Bagdogra fights land, crowd woes

AVIJIT SINHA, TT, 30 October 2017, Siliguri: An over 60 per cent surge in passenger traffic and lack of land to expand the terminal building have led to a chock-a-block situation at Bagdogra airport, with serpentine check-in queues spilling over beyond the entry gate at times.

Officials at the Airports Authority of India said Bagdogra had registered a 62 per cent growth in the number of passengers in the first six months of the current fiscal, vis-à-vis the figure last year.

Although the AAI has plans to expand the terminal building or build a new one at Bagdogra, it has not been able to make much headway because of the lack of land. The AAI had approached the Bengal government a few years ago, but to no avail.

"As of now, all we can do is to make the best possible use of every inch of space. That is what we are doing now. But unless we are provided with land to expand the terminal building or come up with a new one, it is tough to accommodate the increasing passengers," said an AAI official.

Around 3,500 passengers use the Bagdogra airport daily. There are 40 flight services a day.

"We have increased the security hold area on the first floor, where around 120 people can be accommodated. The restaurant has been shifted to another part. In the check-in area on the ground floor, the place where there are conveyer belts and the exit gate, another 450 people can be accommodated," the official said.

The crowd situation at the airport gets worse in the afternoon - between 12pm and 3pm - when seven flights land and five take off. Over 800 people use the terminal building at this time.

"Recently, I took a flight to Delhi. There were long queues at the check-in counters and outside. Not a single chair was empty. In fact, it was pretty hot inside," said Avik Chakraborty, a civil engineer from Siliguri.

"We have introduced a fourth baggage screening machine. This will save some time for the passengers. We are also planning to build two more boarding gates," said Rakesh Sahay, the airport director of Bagdogra.

He said the number of passengers was likely to cross the 2 million mark this fiscal.

(Shared by Kalimpong News: Source & Courtesy:  https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/west-bengal/bagdogra-fights-land-crowd-woes-182273)