To improve the security environment at various airports in the country, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), in association with Central industrial security force (CISF), plans to frisk alighting passengers randomly in the concourse area, apart from installing more CCTVs in the airports.
The bureau of civil aviation security (BCAS) has approved the two committees proposed by the AAI for this purpose.
The plan is likely to be implemented by June this year at 10 hypersensitive airports in the country, including Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Agartala.
“All airport directors have been asked to study the existing system and make improvements to strengthen available arrangements like augmenting CCTVs and increasing safety measures,” said a top BCAS official.
In India, all airports follow the ‘sterile holding area plan’ except at airports in Jammu and Kashmir, where ‘concourse plan’ is being followed.
In the sterile holding area plan, the CISF will be in charge of security inside one portion of airport which will be out of bounds for all people except passengers.
Under the concourse plan, everyone, including airline staff, will be monitored and frisked by CISF right from the gate, including the waiting area.
But following the widespread security threat at airports worldwide, the AAI plans to increase security even outside the sterile area by permitting CISF to frisk even alighting passengers for checking.
It might put passengers to more hardship and delay at the airport, but airport sources say that they cannot compromise on security.
Early this year, at the Domodedovo airport in Moscow, an outsider managed to leave a bag full of explosives in the baggage retrieval area, which led to a massive bombing, killing at least 35 people.