More immigration officials to deal with rush at Delhi airport

New Delhi: With a 30 per cent increase in international passengers at the Delhi airport in the last two years, the government is planning to increase manpower at the immigration desks which have been witnessing serpentine queues of late, officials said.

The officials argued that the infrastructure at the airport was not keeping pace with the rush, which has increased approximately from 30,000 in 2015 to 41,000 passengers per day now.

Passengers coming from abroad have been facing tough time as immigration clearance taking more time than usual, they said. A team of home ministry officials visited the immigration counters at the IGI Airport yesterday to see why so many complaints were coming from passengers.

A home ministry official said the increase in passengers due to grant of e-visa to citizens of over 160 countries in the recent past which led to the arrival of a large number of tourists, was one of the key reasons.

Besides, there have been allegations that many immigration officers leave counters in rush hours for tea/ lunch/dinner breaks and that some of them were not well trained.

The home ministry team has suggested immediate increase in manpower and immigration counters and resource management to cut the long queues.

The Delhi airport has around 75 immigration counters – both at arrival and departure halls, including those for e- visa.