No offs for CISF personnel at airports

NEW DELHI: The Central Industrial Security Force has cancelled leaves and weekly offs of its personnel posted at airports for now, as a surge in the number of flyers this month is leading to serpentine queues at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Goa and other busy airports, a senior CISF official told TOI on Tuesday. A bigger rush is expected from the coming weekend when the peak holiday travel season kicks off. Later, fog in north India may add to the chaos.
The biggest surge is being witnessed at Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport. Air India and IndiGo have asked domestic and international departing passengers to reach T3 at least 3.5 and 4 hours before flight departure time, respectively, with one hand bag only. “CISF has a throughput (frisking capacity) for 2,100 passengers every hour with the 17 security lines being manned currently at T3. The average number of passengers landing up for frisking and cabin bag checks every hour during the peak rush times is 2,750, which means about 650 more than the hourly capacity,” the official said.

With four morning peak hours (5-9 am) and as many in the evening (4-8 pm), over 5,000 (650 flyers x 8 hours) passengers end up waiting a long time every day as of now. What makes matters worse is that while only one hand bag is allowed, many passengers get two bags. “CISF is in no way responsible for how many people come to the airport. The number of flights has increased and infrastructure is simply not commensurate to handle that,” said the official.
Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) is adding three more security check lines for which the CISF commandant’s office in T3 has been demolished and the same will be relocated. “We have already given 100 more personnel to T3. The moment this new area is ready, there will be people to man the same. CISF is committed to man as many lines as can be provided according to the travel demand,” the official said.
Over long terminal entry queues, the official said T3 has eight entry gates and CISF has made two more makeshift gates for crew and other people working at the Delhi airport. “DIAL has deployed ushers from Tuesday to direct passengers to gates with shortest queues,” the official said. Like Bengaluru, entry gates at T3 will soon display average waiting time so that passengers can choose accordingly.
CISF has asked airlines to reduce peak-hour flights given the demand-supply mismatch creating chaos at T3. For more than a week now, there is talk of shifting some T3 flights to T1 and T2 and relocating some peak hour T3 flights to other timings. “We expect things to improve in a day or two,” the official said.
CISF added that the quality of checks can’t be compromised to speed up processes.
The official further stated that the congestion at the Mumbai airport is not as much as at IGIA. “We are monitoring all airports,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the aviation ministry on Tuesday asked airlines to ensure all their airport counters are manned and that they should inform passengers about average wait time at airports through their social media handles. This ministry found that unmanned or inadequate airline personnel at these counters for check-in and baggage drop was also adding to the congestion.