New Delhi, According to officials, stakeholders including Digi Yatra Foundation are working on ways to address tailgating at airports through Digi Yatra gates, an issue that has been flagged by aviation security watchdog BCAS.

Digi Yatra, which uses Facial Recognition Technology (FRT), provides connectivity and seamless entry into airports through e-gates.

Broadly speaking, tailgating refers to letting an additional person through the gate while the credentials for access have been used by only one person.

As part of the regular review of various security aspects, an informed official said the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has given the green signal to the Digi Yatra gates and discussions are underway to resolve the issue.

In a recent interview, Suresh Khadakbhavi, CEO of Digi Yatra Foundation, explained that stakeholders are discussing the best way to address the tailgating issue.Currently, Digi Yatra is available at 14 airports and is expected to be launched at 14 more airports by the end of April.

When asked about tailgating, Khadakbhavi said it has to be ensured that there is a balance between passenger safety and security.

If someone is tailgating, the technique can be used to stop them by closing the gate rapidly. However, if there is a real reason for the delay then it will be a problem. He said that the doors of Digi Yatra are closed at optimum speed and if they are closed fast, there can be a possibility of someone getting injured.According to him, people will have to go in an orderly manner to enter the airport and tailgating is being discussed with various stakeholders.

"We should have a systematic process...this (tailgating) should be discussed in the best way to move forward," he said.

Digi Yatra has around 5 million users and the foundation is also working to make the feature more user-friendly. It provides contactless and seamless movement of passengers across various checkpoints at airports.

In the interview, Khadakbhavi also said that the foundation does not have data of passengers."The data resides only on (the user's) phone and is under the control of the passenger," he said.

The data shared by the traveler to Digi Yatra is stored in an encrypted format.

To avail the service, the passenger has to register his/her details on the Digi Yatra app using Aadhaar-based verification and a self-image capture. In the next step, the boarding pass has to be scanned and the credentials have to be shared with the airport.

At the airport e-gate, the passenger must first scan the bar-coded boarding pass and the facial recognition system installed at the e-gate will validate the passenger's identity and travel document.Once this process is completed, the passenger can enter the airport through e-gate.

The passenger will have to follow the normal procedure to clear the security before boarding the aircraft.