Passengers flying out of the seven airports in India - Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Cochin - will no longer have their cabin bag tags stamped “security checked” from April 1. The decision was taken by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) after getting changes made at these airports. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) had on February 23 sought the ending of stamping at the seven big airports, which includes all metros except Chennai.
“We have got high definition cameras installed at Terminal 1 and 3 of Delhi Airport. The pre-embarkation security check area (where flyers queue up to get frisked) has got 36 HD cameras and the security hold areas (where flyers are sent after frisking) have got 44,” CISF chief OP Singh said. HD cameras now cover all domestic and international passenger areas of Delhi Airport. Singh said the Mumbai Airport has 85 HD cameras.
“We have asked for uninterrupted power back-up support at all these seven airports. At some airports we have got revolving cameras fixed in addition to fixed cameras to minimize grey areas. We will enhance passenger experience at airports,” the DG said. These seven airports account for 80% of all air traffic in India.
BCAS had sought doing away with stamping from February 24. Now with both agencies on the same page, passengers can look forward to faster and better screening of hand bags at these airports. Security check lines will move faster and a person just stamping hand bags earlier will now be free to focus on screening.
Changes have been made on the rollers - belts with circular steel structures on which hand bags roll to first go into the x-ray machines (input roller) and then come out of them on output roller. They have been made longer at some of the airports where hand bag tag stamping has ended on April 1. “Acrylic barriers have been installed (at the point where hand bags exit x-ray machines) to segregate doubtful bags considered a threat,” Singh said.
CISF will examine how the remaining 52 airports too can get rid of stamping.
Hand bag stamped tags have a number in fine print which identifies the counter where the bag was screened. The idea is to fix responsibility in case something that could be a threat to flight safety is allowed to go in those bags. Full camera coverage allows the same to happen without stamping.
Airports in advanced countries, including the US and EU nations, do not stamp hand bag tags or boarding cards. CISF and BCAS had carried out week-long pilot projects at 12 airports last December where hand bag tags of domestic flyers were not stamped.
