Wait gets longer for deployment of full-body scanners at Bengaluru airport

BENGALURU: The country’s first full-body scanners are being tested systematically since last month at Terminal 2 of Kempegowda International Airport. However, it would take months to be used on passengers, according to a senior security official.

The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) had recently announced that these scanners would become operational at Bengaluru airport in April. “This is not a possibility as of now,” the senior security official said. With KIA being the busiest airport in South India and the third largest in the country, passenger safety is a top priority here. These hi-tech scanners can help with enhanced checks.

KIA was the first in the country to procure these scanners from abroad, which costs Rs 1.75 crore (plus import duty) per piece. “It works out to 100 times that of the Door Frame Metal Detector which ranges from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 1.75 lakh a piece depending on the make,” the official said.

Three scanners purchased months ago are placed in Terminal 2 of KIA. But none of them are operational yet. “We propose to use all three only for domestic passengers. The Central Industrial Security Force had been trial-running them on and off earlier. Since last month, we have been regularly and systematically carrying out the trials.

There is no chance of them being used anytime soon. After the CISF is satisfied with the ongoing trials, it has to apprise the Centre of its results and findings. A demonstration needs to be done, and the Centre’s approval is needed. There is no way it can be put into operation in April and will take much longer,” he added.

The misconception among passengers, particularly women, that the scanning would capture private body parts was completely wrong, the official stressed. “This is not an X-ray machine. It quickly scans the body, and no recording of anything is made. They are Millimeter wave scanners and do not generate any radiation,” he explained.

The scanner would help detect concealed non-metal objects in the body too, unlike the DFMD, or hand-held metal detector, which only alerts about metallic substances. “If the passenger passes through it after removing all items like a watch, ring, chain, belt, and so on, it would take only between 30 seconds and 40 seconds to scan a person. But if some object remains, the person needs to go back, queue up, and repeat it,” he explains.