The central government has asked the Delhi airport to demolish structures if needed, so as to create more space for security gates. Air passengers have continued to share their travel woes on social media showing chaos and overcrowding at the entrance as well as security queues at T3, which is the international terminal but also caters to some domestic airlines.
At a high-level meeting on Thursday, aviation and security officials assessed that the security check was a major bottleneck, which was leading to congestion in the airport. Officials told CNN-News18 that after the meeting, instructions have been relayed to create more space for security infrastructure.
“The CISF office in T3 has been demolished. In its place, more ATRS (assisted tray retrieval system) are being installed,” a senior CISF officer said.
Officials said the Delhi International Airport Ltd, which operates the Delhi airport, has been asked to demolish its lounge this week to create more space for security gates.
“The ratio of ATRS to number of flights is skewed. The current security setup is geared to handle 180 passengers per hour per belt. But the number of flights in peak hours has gone up exponentially without augmenting the security infrastructure,” an airport security officer said.
According to officials, immigration has also been identified as an area of concern vis-a-vis overcrowding. Sources said 30 percent of immigration counters were currently unoccupied. “The IB has assured that in the next couple of days, all immigration counters will be manned to tide over the current holiday season and the overcrowding,” a source said, adding that the number of flights in peak hours were also being reduced.
At least five morning flights at T3 have been diverted to other terminals or rescheduled for non-peak arrival and departure. Officials also studied the Bengaluru and Mumbai airports in an effort to decongest the Delhi airport, and presented some best practices. Officials flagged that while boards intimating wait time at gates were a welcome move, snags like software calculating the wait time, not accounting for children, wheelchair-bound passengers, or passengers below a certain height, must be resolved.
The meeting took place two days after civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia’s visit to T3. Also present at the meeting were DG CISF, DG Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, senior officers of Intelligence Bureau, representatives from DIAL, as well as other officials from aviation and home ministries. A second round of meetings is likely to take place soon.
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