A day after Scindia announces action plan for IGI, chaos reignites

New Delhi: Fish market, ration line, Hotel California… People stormed the social media with memes and comments along with pictures of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport a day after the civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia visited the place and announced a fresh action plan to decongest Terminal 3 (T3). Terminal 3 caters to both international and domestic flights.

A day after the new action plan was announced by the authorities, promising better crowd management, things largely remained the same on the ground as passengers demanded that the authorities act to smoothen the process, else they will miss flights.

Airlines like Indigo issued an advisory asking domestic passengers to report at least three and a half hours in advance, do a Web check-in, and carry only one piece of hand luggage of less than 7 kg to ensure a smooth passage.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture will hold a meeting with Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, CEO of the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) on December 15 to discuss the passengers’ complaints of long waiting hours and congestion.

“Early morning at a Delhi fish market! At least a dozen scuffles have broken out in the last 20 minutes,” wrote journalist Nikhil Inamdar with pictures of a clogged T3 as #Delhi Airport kept trending throughout the day on Twitter.

 “One hour plus to clear security! Ye airport hai ya railway platform?” wrote Sheela Bhatt, another senior journalist, on Twitter. “All Cabinet ministers, MPs, MLAs and VVIPs are escorted through business class passage at airports so they have no clue how ridiculous it is to fly Delhi-Mumbai and spend almost same time as the express trains. Around four hours at arrival and departure airports,” she tweeted.

“This morning’s Delhi airport saga! The security lines at Delhi airport were last seen in front of ration shops in the seventies. Or East Bengal Mohun Bagan match ticket counters,” tweeted sports writer Joy Bhattacharya. “Delhi airport is now Hotel California. You can check in any time you like, but you can never leave! Some in the Delhi airport security queue are fretting because they are worried about missing their flights. Others because they are desperately holding on for the bathrooms on the other side. One is reading a book. I think he’ll finish. There is a budding romance on too!” he added.

“Reached the airport at 6 am for an 8 am flight. Just about made it!! Insane crowd. It’s like a Kumbh ka mela. Thought I’d find some lost sibling too,” said comedian Neeti Palta.

“Boarding pass scanner before security check installed after Covid is slowing the movement. Avoid this and add more security check counters. Seems a lot of staff shortage in Delhi Airport,” tweeted journalist J. Gopikrishnan.

Meanwhile, a passenger, Shubhojit Pakrasi, has a different story through the newly-launched Digi Yatra. “Digiyatra seamless entry, till security time taken from Gate 2 to beyond security roughly 10 mins. Well done,” he tweeted.