The modern thinking Indian

Due to some relatives arriving for a family tragedy, I spent some time at Delhi airport, both domestic and international. Some experiences from the departure and arrival locations.
Let me start with the most positive experience. I had to pick some people up from the international terminal (Indira Gandhi International Airport). It seemed pretty smooth as silk if you are willing to pay up a bit. First park your vehicle in the car park (Rs. 120 if you want to park in the premium car parking), and then pay Rs. 60 for each entry intro the arrival lounge. Ideal, you wave to your visitors as they arrive and take them to the car parking. Only problem is that the premium car parking is pretty small. The regular parking is pretty decent as well.
Next is the departure from international. This is also fairly convenient, you drop your visitors at the gate. Trolleys are available without a problem, and as long as you don't stay too long there, the traffic police and the cranes do not disturb you. However, and this is where I have seen people behaving strangely, they actually stay there for extended farewells, even though space there is limited. I have seen a few even arguing with traffic police, something that I would not believe could happen in a lot of other countries.
Now comes the incredible domestic terminals. These are special, especially during peak times. First, on the route to the domestic terminal, you see a number of cars lined along the road, with a driver waiting for a call to pick them up. The route is not exactly very broad, and with these cars lined along the road, the traffic route into the terminal gets more choked. Makes me wonder, are these people so stingy that they cannot afford to pay the parking fee or are they so self-centered that they really do not care?
The parking in the domestic terminal is a mess. Given the number of flights, the number of vehicles using the parking has increased tremendously while space has remained same; and this is where things get frustating. Everybody in the Government was aware of the increase in flights, and yet a contract to modernise the airports took so much time; with so much politicking. As a result, discomfort to people using the airport has increased, and measures to improve things will take much more time.
Leaving people at the domestic terminal departure is still fine; but the arrival could do with a lot more improvement. Twice in succession it has happened that I am looking at the arrival billboard, and while the airline arrival is still not confirmed, the people that I came to pick came out. In addition, the arrival open area seems like a fish market, with so many people packed into a small area. They really need to increase the area available. The improvement from a few months back is that you have more stalls with things to eat and drink, something desparately needed if you are waiting in the heat.
Experiences inside the airport is another matter, with a separate story.

Labels: Airport, Development, Governance, India, Reform, Road, Traffic, Transport

And so we have a case where the very concept of the security level provided by Indian agencies is under question. In an incident a few days back, noted industrialist Nusli Wadia was briefly detained at Dubai Airport after his check-in baggage was found to contain a gun and 30 live bullets. This was dismissed as a one-off case with the usual claims of an enquiry as well as suspension of 1-2 line staff.

I have been watching out to see whether there was any further movement on this case, and the whole case seems to have dropped dead. There is no further discussion, no analysis of how this seems to blow a hole in the security infrastructure.

Read about what actually happened

A revolver and 30 live bullets were recovered from the baggage of noted industrialist Nusli Wadia last week at the Dubai airport where he flew by an Air-India flight from Mumbai, official sources said on Friday. At a time when high alert had been sounded at all airports across the country, security personnel at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai failed to detect the firearm. The lapse that occurred on January 13 prompted Air-India to suspend two of its ground staff and launch an inquiry, the sources said.
And this happened when there is a supposed high level of security in the country, and amid repeated claims by the Prime Minister downwards that India is at the attention of terrorists and that we need to be on our guard.

An argument made that nothing bad really happened, that it was just in the check-in luggage and not in hand luggage, and that it was just an innocent mistake. The problem in such arguments is that having seen this happen, we really don't know how many times something like this happens and goes away undetected.

This incident happened on an international flight, and it could be possible that many incidents happen like this on domestic flights and get away undetected. Travellers can get paranoid when something like this happens.

The other impact of an incident like this, or multiple incidents like this is that other countries will start to doubt the effectiveness of security at Indian airports, and start to impose conditions.

For these reasons, it was necessary that no one down-pedalled such an incident, and promised to figure out how such a thing could happen. No such thing happened, instead a brief flash, and then nothing more. Or is that we only get worried when something bad actually happens ?

Labels: Airport, Image, Police, Security