Authorities Concerned Over “Fake E-Ticket” Airport Entry!
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which guards airports across the country, has raised concerns over increase in incidents of people entering airports using fake E-tickets.
The CISF has said that 140 such incidents had been recorded in 2018 while 111 cases were registered in 2017.
The issue assumes significance as incidents of people entering airports illegally have increases every year. In 2015 and 2016, number of such cases was less than 100.
Though the CISF does not suspect any terror angle with regard to such cases, but the force considers it as a major threat to security of airports. It suspects that such incidents may lead to some major incident if not curbed.
They say most of the cases involved individuals who illegally entered the airport terminal to see off family members or friends. Others using fake e-tickets were attributed to ignorance of the rules.
Those entering the airport illegally using these method seem to have taken advantage of the present CISF practice of checking the date and departure time of the flight and match the name on the ticket to a photo ID card.
Considering the threat, the CISF and the Civil Aviation Ministry both want to implement a new entry system for airports using a uniform identity. The CISF is pressing for implementation of biometric system for travellers to enter airports and the concept of DigiYatra.
The passenger would be asked to either create or use the unique identity at the time of the booking of the ticket. Officials say this method would be optional, as would be the choice of which ID the passenger wants to use, including Aadhaar.
Officials are also mulling the use of barcodes or QR codes to authenticate tickets and verify the identities of the individuals presenting them at the gates to the terminals.
However, with the programme not rolled out yet, it remains to be see what methods the CISF and other security agencies are likely to use.