Break CISF Office to Create Space, More Security Lines: Brainstorming at MHA Meet to Decongest Delhi Airport

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) chaired a high-level meeting on Thursday amid complaints of congestion and chaos at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport’s Terminal 3.

The meeting, which was chaired by the Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, had Civil Aviation Secretary, senior officers of Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), Director General of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Intelligence Bureau (IB) Chief, Chairman of the Airport Authority of India (AAI), senior officers of Immigration Department and other officers of MHA.

Sources told CNN-News18 that the CISF office inside Terminal 3 has been broken to create space for additional security lines. The authorities plan to make 20 additional security lines operational by December 28. The stakeholders also pitched also for immigration infrastructure road map to reduce crowding at international airport side.

Over the past few days, hundreds of passengers complained of overcrowding and even claimed to have missed their flight despite reaching way ahead of time. Following the menace, some of the trop airlines issued advisories, requesting passengers to arrive 3.5 hours ahead of their flight. The congestion at the entry gates, however, eased after a surprise visit by Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. The minister had urged airport authorities to resolve and make sure enough manpower is available.

Even though the wait time at the entry gates reduced on Wednesday, passengers still complained of long queue before and after security check. On Wednesday, Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia  said all agencies have swung into action in the last 24-36 hours to mitigate congestion at all major airports.

“Congestion at entry points and check-in counters at T3 has eased. Four additional X-ray machines have been added at the Security Hold Area; display boards showing wait time have come up. Deployment of CISF manpower has already kick-started, and will progressively increase in the next few days,” he said.

Scindia, in a LinkedIn post, said these steps will be emulated at the Bengaluru and Mumbai airports as well.

In recent weeks, air passengers have been complaining about long waiting hours at airports, especially at Terminal 3 (T3) of Delhi airport, and authorities have been taking steps to reduce the congestion. “In the last 24-36 hours, all agencies have swung into action to mitigate congestion at every checkpoint at all major airports,” he said.

Steps Taken To Easy Congestion

According to reports, passenger inconvenience at key airports may last till the first week of January because of the holiday season. Domestic daily passengers in the country have been over 4,00,000 for the last ten days and hit a peak of over 4,28,000 on December 11.

The Airport authorities have installe display boards at every entry point. The live updates on airport entry points and flights on social media have also reduced the confusion. Now, the airport has multiple display boards, showing estimated waiting period outside the 16 entry gates.