Nearly half of counters were "unmanned": Delhi airport official after long queues at immigration troubles passengers

New Delhi [India], March 15 : After long queues were seen at the immigration and security checkpoints troubling the passengers at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, an airport official on Wednesday said that nearly half of the counters were "unmanned" leading to long queues.

The airport official said that it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Home Affairs to ensure the smooth functioning of immigration at the airport.

"Immigration is a sovereign function and it is the responsibility of the MHA to ensure the smooth functioning of Immigration and security. Delhi airport has about 140 immigration counters in arrival and departure. Today early morning less than 50 per cent of counters were unmanned that led to long queues at the immigration counters," the official told on condition of anonymity.

This comes after long queues at immigration, and security checkpoints became a nightmare for passengers travelling to and from Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.

Many passengers took to social media on Wednesday to raise their plight of inconvenience they were facing at the airport.

The passengers complained of three-hour-long queues to get clear through immigration and security at Delhi airport. Frequent passengers travelling through Delhi airport called it a perennial problem.

"This problem is eternal. I have stopped being an optimist when a problem needs to be solved via a politician. Till we have politicians who are interested in garnering media attention, nothing concrete will change on the ground," said Mohit, a passenger.

Another passenger Manas said, "The worst airport of all time! Not sure who gives them the best award and they flaunt about it ... my experiences with Delhi international have always been horrible, the apathy of the officials is even more appealing, blore airport is much better comparatively."

The passengers were even found complaining about the long queue at the entry to the lounge.

Samkit Jain, a passenger tweeted," Delhi Airport T3 Lounge Queue is longer than the Security Check-In Queue."

Notably, in December last year, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia made a surprise visit to Terminal 3 of the IGI airport in Delhi amid complaints of congestion and overcrowding and also held meeting with concerned stakeholders to overcome the issue.

In December-January, Airlines have given an advisory to come 3.5 hours before departure to avoid inconvenience.

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