MPS INSPECT DELHI AIRPORT, CONCERNED> OVER CONGESTION
NEW DELHI: Parliamentarians have raised concern over congestion at the Delhi airport and asked the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) to shift some airlines from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 to minimise inconvenience to passengers.
A parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture visited Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) to assess security issues arising due to congestion.
Hindustan Times, on April 29, reported that in a draft report, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) pointed out that too many shops and restaurants at airport could jeopardise lives of passengers during an emergency.
The Central Industrial Security Force, responsible for airport security, also wrote to the ministry of civil aviation calling commercial establishments a “big hindrance” to evacuation plans.
Apart from MPs, representatives of DIAL, the airport operator, and civil aviation ministry were also there.
“We asked the airport operator about the increased number of shops but they said they are allowed to carry commercial activities in 20% of the area and currently shops occupy only 5% of the space,” said Kiranmay Nanda, Samajwadi Party MP.
The capacity of T1 is 20 million while it handles 24 million passengers.
“T1 is very congested and passengers are facing a lot of inconvenience. T2 is ready and we have been told that some of the airlines will be shifted there by November and it will decongest T1. Regarding T3, we felt that passengers have to walk a lot and buggy service is not available to everyone. We will put forward our recommendations,” said Nanda.
MPs were also of the view that after the launch of the regional connectivity scheme, the movement of aircraft will rise and a plan should be prepared keeping in mind the anticipated growth.
A delegation of 14 PAC members visited IGIA on March 7.
The two terminals, T1 and T3, serve over 150,000 passengers every day with nearly 1,200 flights arriving or taking off.
The civil aviation ministry has decided to increase the capacity of Delhi airport by 50%. Last year, the Indira Gandhi International Airport handled one crore extra passengers than it handled in the previous year. The infrastructure during the period remained the same and as a result, passengers complained of congestion in the terminal and extra waiting time at the security check and immigration check.
Together the two terminals of Delhi airport — T1 and T3 have a capacity to handle 62 million passengers per annum. It handled 55.6 million in 2016 and the number is likely to cross the capacity this year.
Against an average 1,050 flight movements per day in 2015, the number increased to 1,185 flights per day.