PUNE: The two electronic boarding pass reading gates at the airport will soon be able to automatically reject passengers from proceeding towards security checks if they arrive much ahead of their respective flight timings.The gates are being upgraded with a fresh software for the implementation of the new arrangement. As the airport authorities grapples to manage heavy rush of fliers, the upgrade plan as part of the Union government’s DigiYatra will ensure use of state-of-the-art technology for effective crowd control.An official said getting boarding passes, through means such as web check-ins, has become easy for the flyers. “At the Pune airport , the number of flights has increased and more aircraft will be added soon. As a result, the passenger traffic has increased by leaps and bound,” he said.“With many flights being bunched, particularly during late evening hours, the situation tend to get chaotic at the security check points and also the waiting area. The new arrangement will make things a bit easier. We, however, cannot specify a date for the completion of the upgrade process,” the official said.In the late evening hours, the airport handles between 46 and 60 flight arrivals and departures. Instances are galore about many passengers going for security checks even as their flights are scheduled much later. “According to regulations, check-ins and security checks are allowed at least 2 hours before a flight is scheduled. If a passenger, who has a flight scheduled at 10pm, tries to proceed for the security check at 7pm or 7:30pm, the upgraded boarding pass reading gates will not allow him or her to walk through,” he said.“Currently, the CISF personnel read the boarding passes and tend to allow or disallow passengers to proceed for boarding if they have reached the airport much before the scheduled departure time. Once the new system is in place, there will be involvement of less manpower. The Airports Authority of India (AAI), as part of the DigiYatra programme, is coming up with many such facilities for seamless operations at the airport,” the official said.The new system will have a number of advantages. “The authorities can ensure better crowd control in the security check-ins and the waiting area. Passengers, whose flights have been delayed, tend to go through security check-ins. This makes the waiting area heavily crowded. Though the use of the electronic boarding pass reading gates is optional now, the plan to make these facilities and other schemes under DigiYatra a must and passenger-friendly,” the official said.

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