To make security checks quicker and error-free at India’s hypersensitive airports, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) received clearance from the Public Investment Board (PIB) to install full-body scanners that will cut down the passenger frisking time by half.
These full-body scanners will be installed at four airports in the country including Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and Goa.
In July, the government had floated a tender to procure 131 full-body scanners– that cut down the average passenger frisking time to 15 seconds from the current 30 and 600 new hand baggage scanners at over ₹ 1,000 crore at airports run by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) but it was later withdrawn as it needed clearance from PIB.
The national capital’s Indira Gandhi International Airport will be the first in the country to get a full-body scanner and CTX, with other cities including Mumbai expected to get these machines soon.
The deadline for installation, which ends December 31, may be extended for certain airports due to some provisioning issues, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) director general Zulfiquar Hasan said on December 15.
The full-body scanner assures anonymity and would only flag objects that are prohibited.
A body scanner is a device that detects prohibited items inside or on a person’s clothing without having to physically removing clothes or making physical contact.
According to a report, Bengaluru, Goa, Mumbai airports are also planning to move away from the cumbersome security check system.