Officials at the pedestrian terminal a Kill Joy

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I have been waiting patiently for almost three years since Bhutan closed its border gate to combat the Covid-19 virus. As Bhutan formally re-opens its border town gates on September 23 coinciding with the auspicious blessed rainy day, I was leaping in joy with several fun plans to do across the border town in Jaigaon. My friends and I were planning this ever since we were locked in.
But my joy quickly turned into frustration within a moment as I reached the newly constructed pedestrian terminal. Firstly, there was an impressive long queue with hundreds of people joining the line and some trying to break the line. Moreover, in this scorching and sweltering summer heat, a heated argument broke out among the people in line. 
Moreover, the officials’ way of facilitating seamless travel across the border is only good to imagine and better on the papers as complicated procedures to exit the gate not only stole time but also changed the mood of happy and excited people wishing to relive the memories of the friendly border town.
The officials who said that one can show one’s citizenship identity card or any other identification document to crossover to Jaigaon seems way more complicated. My friends and I were informed earlier that with a CID card and Bhutan App installed on my cell phone leaving a trace of my footprint seems useless. I wasted almost an hour trying to scan the QR code which is either due to a broken link or inaccessible.
I don’t understand why it’s made so complicated and yet they claim it to be seamless. I think any document be it digital, original or a copy should be accepted at the gate. One must be allowed to use a driving license as the information punched it is also as legit as carrying an original identity card.
Moreover, when the whole of the country is going digital, it’s ridiculous that the officials facilitating our movement still ask for papers. The government must learn to go digital and take leverage of digital platforms and not create another waste of time policy. Similarly, many Bhutanese, as well as Indian neighbors, must be bearing the brunt of such regulations in place. We can only hope that situations relax as days pass by. We Bhutanese always tend to overdo things at first anyways ad yet, it seems like we haven’t learned a lesson from two and half years of Covid-19 pandemic-related restrictions that only hampered the poor citizens more than ever.