As Delhi Airport’s Terminal 3 faces severe congestion, long lines and crowding, K Narayan Rao, Deputy Managing Director of Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) on Thursday said the problem will be solved by December-end. He met the Parliament committee of Civil Aviation and explained primary reasons behind the congestion.
Speaking to CNN-News18, Rao said, “I assured the parliament committee that measures to tackle the congestion problem have begun, and the problem was mainly caused by a spike in number of passengers and baggage. We can expect things to be better by month-end.”
For some time now, air passengers have been complaining of long queues and overcrowding at the entrance as well as security queues at T3. Delhi Airport authorities were also asked by the Central government to demolish structures if needed, so as to create more space for security gates. “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.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had sought details about the status of services as per the Operation, Management and Development Agreement (OMDA) from DIAL, which is majority-owned by GMR group.
The Delhi Airport has also asked passengers to arrive early and carry only one piece of hand baggage for a smooth security check. Several airlines like IndiGo and Air India released notifications asking passengers to arrive at least 3 and a half hours prior to their flight timings.
Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday 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 times have come up. Deployment of CISF manpower has already kick-started, and will progressively increase in the next few days,” he said
The civil aviation ministry has also asked the airport operator to take various remedial measures to ease the congestion. There was no immediate comment from DIAL. In case the default continues beyond the stipulated period, then the airport operator is even liable to pay certain amount as “liquidated damages” subject to certain conditions, a PTI report said.
(With Inputs from Pallavi Ghosh)
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