To cut down on wait times and enhance security at the international pedestrian terminal connecting Phuentsholing and Jaigaon, India, DoI is putting automated border control systems into place. These e-gates automated self-service kiosks confirm travelers’ identities using fingerprint or face recognition scans and biometric information from passports. Foreign nationals and citizens of Bhutan who have registered biometrics will be able to enter without requiring manual clearance. To minimize interruptions, the department has erected temporary mobile counters during the installation phase. The announcement is made as terminal wait times continue to aggravate people. Immigration officials must manually enter each traveler’s data into the current system, which creates bottlenecks during busy times.
The terminal gets crowded on certain Jaigaon market days when a lot of Bhutanese tourists arrive. Access points within the terminal are frequently closed by terminal managers to regulate crowd flow when the number of visitors increases, which can occasionally result in chaotic situations. The pedestrian terminal receives 15,000 visitors a day on average, with numbers peaking during school breaks, pilgrimage seasons, and busy shopping times, according to Home Minister Tshering’s recent social media acknowledgment of the problem. In order to improve public service delivery for our citizens and visitors, Lyonpo added, the department has already installed ten automatic entry e-gates and is nearing completion on eight exit e-gates.
