Bengaluru man says he ‘faced more difficulty’ at Gujarat’s Gandhidham station than in Dubai

A Bengaluru man who recently returned from Dubai amid rising tensions in the Middle East has criticised the conditions and behaviour of officials at a railway station in Gujarat, claiming he “faced more difficulty” here than at major airports abroad.Sanghvi recently returned from Dubai amid rising tensions in the Middle East. (X@vatsal_sanghvi)In a post on X, Vatsal Sanghvi said he encountered problems at Gandhidham railway station while travelling with his parents after returning to India from Dubai. “Faced more difficulty at the Gandhidham railway station than at Dubai or Mumbai airports after we returned to India amidst the crisis,” he wrote.Sanghvi alleged that officials at the station behaved rudely and that some of the baggage scanning machines were not working. “I was arriving with parents today and the attitude of these officers was nothing short of pathetic,” he wrote, adding that one officer even remarked to him, “Dubai main dikkat nahi hui kya aapko? Idhar kyun problem hai?”Sanghvi said that he understands that security checks are necessary, but added that the process could be improved if the equipment functioned properly. “Every time I’m here, I’m stopped and my bags are checked – I understand that this is important but the scanning machines never work,” he wrote. He also alleged that some of the officials conducting the checks were in civilian clothes and did not have physical IDs.In his post, Sanghvi tagged Union railway miner Ashwini Vaishnaw and Gujarat BJP MP Vinod Chavda, requesting that funds be allocated to repair or upgrade scanning machines at the station. “We are more than happy to put all my bags into the machine as would other passengers do,” he wrote, adding that he was uncomfortable interacting with what he described as disrespectful and “unempathetic” officers, particularly while travelling with his parents.Middle East conflictSanghvi’s post comes against the backdrop of heightened tensions in the Middle East following coordinated airstrikes the United States and Israel inside Iran. In response, Iran launched a large retaliatory operation across the region.Dubai, long considered a relatively stable hub in the region, also faced disruptions as missile and drone attacks led to the temporary closure of airspace over the city. The escalating conflict triggered widespread flight cancellations and rerouting of aircraft, leaving tens of thousands of travellers across the world stranded or facing delays at transit hubs in the Gulf.