By IANS
New Delhi : Taking serious note of the chaos and mismanagement at the Delhi airport that has given passengers a harrowing time, the civil aviation ministry Tuesday directed the airport officials to take adequate steps to tackle the mess.
After an inspection of Delhi airport a fortnight ago, officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation along with members from various agencies, including the Director Ggeneral of Civil Aviation (DGCA), found various lacunae that were leading to chaos at both the domestic and international terminals.
“We have asked the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) to take appropriate measures. However, the relief for passengers will come when the complete renovation and construction work is completed at the airport,” K.N. Srivastava, joint secretary with the civil aviation ministry, told reporters.
The government has asked the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), a central paramilitary responsible for security at the airport, to remove the barricades from the two departure ramps, which merge at the end.
The official said due to the barricades, the traffic crawls at the airport and leads to more chaos. The airport authorities have been asked to deploy more people to assure smooth movement of vehicles.
During inspection, it was found that out of six parking bays – five for passengers and one for VIPs – only two were functional leading to massive traffic jams and utter chaos, he said.
“The biggest bottleneck at the airport is the unmanned immigration counters. Only 18 of a total 28 are functional at the airport. We have requested the home ministry to provide more staff,” the official said.
“We have also directed DIAL to implement inline baggage checking system to avoid inconvenience to passengers. They have promised that three in-line baggage checking systems would be installed before April and the rest by June,” Srivastava added.
He also criticised airlines that opened their check-in counters two hours before the scheduled time.
“Passengers who are not supposed to be present inside the airport before the actual time just add to the chaos. Airlines must look into it.”