Govt to hire more staffers to ease congestion at immigration counters

ln order to ease congestion at immigration counters at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) during peak hours, the government is planning to increase the crew significantly. The measure has become unavoidable in view of the drastic increase in the number of flyers over the last few years.

Issues related to congestion have been raised by travellers several times in the past. Passengers say immigration clearance takes a long time due to staff shortage. Following regular complaints, a team of Home Ministry officials visited the IGIA counters for inspection on Tuesday.

Home Ministry officials said that granting of e-visa to citizens of over 160 countries in the recent past has led to the arrival of a huge number of tourists. Besides, there have been allegations that many immigration officers leave their counters during the rush hours for tea or meals and some of them are not even trained properly.

The officials also argued that the infrastructure at the airport was not keeping pace with the rush, which has increased from nearly 30,000 a day in 2015 to 41,000 a day now. In fact, the four business-class counters were also thrown open for the general public to handle the rush.

The Delhi airport has 75 immigration counters at both arrival and departure halls, including those for e-visa. An assessment revealed that each passenger spends 50-90 seconds at an immigration counter and the authorities are now planning to reduce this time to 30 seconds, an official said.