On 6th September 2024, Union Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) inaugurated the Digi Yatra facility for 9 airports at Visakhapatnam International Airport, Andhra Pradesh (AP).
- He has also virtually extended it to 8 other airports of Airport Authority of India (AAI) namely, Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu, TN), Dabolim (Goa), Indore (Madhya Pradesh, MP), Bagdogra (West Bengal, WB), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Patna (Bihar), Raipur (Chhattisgarh), and Bhubaneshawar (Odisha) airports.
Key People: Minister of State (MoS) Murlidhar Mohol, MoCA and Minister of Cooperation (MoC); Vumlunmang Vualnam, Secretary of MoCA also joined the event through video conferencing. M. Suresh, Chairman of AAI; Sribharat Mathukumilli, Member of Parliament (MP) for Lok Sabha(Visakhapatnam), P.K. Thakur, Deputy Director General (DDG), MoCA, among others were also present during the event.
About Digi Yatra Facility:
i.Digi Yatra facility was 1st launched at 3 airports namely, New Delhi(Delhi), Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh, UP), and Bengaluru (Karnataka) on 1st December, 2022.
- With the launch of new 9 more Digi Yatra-enabled airports, the total number of Digi Yatra-enabled airports will increase from 15 (launched in 1st phase) to 24.
ii.It is a biometric based system that uses Facial Recognition Technology (FTR)which provides seamless, contactless, and paperless boarding experience to passengers at airports.
iii.In this, passengers register using their (Identification)ID and biometric data before entering the airport. They then use the system at key points, without needing to carry travel documents.
iv.It was implemented by the DigiYatra Foundation, a joint-venture company registered under the Companies Act, 2013.
Benefits:
i.So far, more than 3 crore passengers have utilised the Digi Yatra facility and over 55 lakh people have downloaded the Digi Yatra application (app).
ii.It has reduced the airport entry time for a passenger from an average 15 seconds (s) in manual process to 5s.
iii.The facility ensures data security of passengers as there is no central storage of passengers’ Personally Identifiable Information (PII) i.e. all data related to passenger is encrypted and stored securely in their smartphones shared only temporarily with the origin airport and destroyed within 24 hours (hrs) of departure.
Other Key Announcements:
i.While addressing the event, Union Minister K. Rammohan Naidu announced the expansion of Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), which was introduced in 2016, aimed to provide regional connectivity to airports.
- The number of airports in India has increased from 74 (in 2014) to 157 (in 2024) and Government of India (GoI) aims to increase the number of airports in India to 400 in the next 25 years.
ii.He also announced that Sea planes will be introduced at Prakasam barrage in Vijaywada, AP in October, 2024. He announced about the upcoming Bhogapuram International Airport at Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram district, AP during the event.
About Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA):
Union Minister- Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu (Constituency- Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh (AP))
Minister of State (MoS)– Murlidhar Kisan Mohol (Constituency- Pune, Maharashtra)
