GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 27th Jan. Scindia, the minister of civil aviation, has made it clear that passengers’ approval is required in order to collect face biometrics during kiosk-based registration, and that participation in DigiYatra is entirely voluntary.
Saket Gokhale, a TMC MP, had expressed worry about reports of people being enrolled without their express agreement. Earlier this month, Gokhale noted in a letter to Scindia a number of grievances raised by travelers alleging that they were coerced into signing up for DigiYatra at airports all around India and that their biometrics were being surreptitiously collected without their knowledge.
In response, Scindia emphasized that DigiYatra is intended to be a simple, voluntary process for air travel that offers a hassle-free experience. He emphasized that the system’s main component is a smartphone app, on which the passenger’s device stores all of the data.
“To facilitate passengers not having app installed but intend to use Digiyatra, kiosk based registration only for the day of travel is provided by airports,” Scindia stated.
“Airports also provide Digi Buddies as a service to assist travelers. In order to use face biometrics for kiosk-based registration, the traveler must give their consent, he continued.
Within 24 hours following the flight’s departure, the minister guarantees that the information gathered via this procedure is automatically deleted from the airport’s database. “The issue raised by you has been examined and airport operators have been advised to sensitise Digi buddies on consent taking process and keeping use of digi yatra completely voluntary,” stated the official.
Gokhale called it a “welcome step” and invited travelers to get in touch with him if they were still having problems. He shared a copy of the letter on X. Using facial recognition technology, DigiYatra enables contactless and smooth passenger passage at airport checkpoints (FRT).
A passenger must register their details on the DigiYatra app using self-image capture and Aadhaar-based validation in order to use the service. The boarding pass must be scanned and the credentials must be shared with the airport in the following step. The passenger must first scan their bar-coded boarding pass at the airport e-gate in order for the facial recognition technology there to verify their identity and travel document. The passenger can use the e-gate to enter the airport after this procedure is complete. The traveler must adhere to standard protocol in order to pass security and board the airplane.
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