Hyderabad: Female travellers claim that they have to wait longer for security checks at the Hyderabad airport as there are very few security booths for women. Currently, there are two booths for women and children and the number of women travellers far exceeds their handling capacity. Travellers have also sought a separate line at security checks for handicapped persons.
Annoyed with Hyderabad airport authorities, Dr Manuja Mathur who was travelling on an international flight on Sunday morning, wrote to GMR authorities demanding that it should arrange separate queues for females and handicapped persons. Dr Mathur said she was very disappointed by the security arrangements at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.
Dr Manuja Mathur, travelling with her husband and two children, took a 4 am flight from Hyderabad airport to New York. She told Deccan Chronicle, “My family and I reached to security booths at 1:45 am where we were separated by gender. The men’s queue moved much faster than the women’s one. In fact several men were already at the gate while their wives were still standing in the queue. This was because there were four security booths for men and only two for women and children. Additionally, the women’s queue was combined with people on wheelchairs.”
She said, “several women complained to the airport manager, but the officials refused to respond. My family has come to this airport eight times in the last four years, and despite raising concern on this issue there has been no change so far. Several other customers had a similar grievance. Hence, I demand that they have more security booths at the international security checks to avoid discomfort and long queues for women.”
Her husband Mr Pravin Mathur told this newspaper, “The security queue at the Hyderabad airport for international departures, especially for women, is poorly managed. It takes three times longer for women to clear the check. There is a need to have more screening booths for women.”
On contacting, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) spokesperson told this newspaper, “We appreciate the feedback and suggestions given by our esteemed passengers. While the airport is ready to provide more frisking booths for women, the challenge today is primarily in manning them, due to a severe shortage of women security personnel in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) ranks which has affected airports across the country. We have already taken up this issue at senior levels within CISF and the ministry of civil aviation and we have been assured that the challenges were being addressed.”
