On Friday, the director general of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) that handles security at the airports in the country announced the introduction of body scanners.
The Director General, O.P. Singh reported the scanners will be first brought to the New Delhi Airport and then to Hyderabad.
He was quoted saying, “We have tried out body scanners made by firms belonging to United States and Germany, where we came across a few ambiguities in the screening process. We have asked the firms to rectify them and in the meantime, another foreign firm too has come forward to install them. We will soon start with them on a pilot basis.”
Mr. Singh gave the news at the opening of India’s first ‘Express Security Check Facility’ that happened at Rajiv Gandhi International airport led by GMR in Shamshabad, Hyderabad. The CEO of GMR S.G.K. Kishore was also present at the opening.
Mr. Singh further reported, “If they did not want to go through body scanners then they will have to go through the usual body patting and frisking procedure by our personnel.”
“We have plans to remove the baggage stamping from all the 59 airports in the country by the year end. It will be removed in six more airports before Independence Day or within a week, and another 19 airports will follow suit by the end of the month,” Mr. Singh explained.
At present, there are 36 airports under ‘hypersensitive’ and ‘sensitive’ zones. The CISF has trained individuals and is working on a thorough process to avoid any compromise on security at airports. The CISF was expecting to handle the security for Hyderabad Metro Rail project as it already handles the Delhi Metro security but the TS government is yet to approach them.
