Along with the airports in major metro cities in the country, Airports in the Northeast which have been classified as ‘hypersensitive’ will have to install body scanners by March 2020.
As per reports, the Centre has asked 84 airports of India which have been classified as sensitive and hypersensitive to install body scanners by March next year and the remaining airports to do so by March 2021.
A total of 28 airports in the country are classified as hypersensitive, including those in big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and in conflict areas like Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast.
A circular issued by Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) to all Indian airports stated that body scanners have the capacity to detect both metallic and non-metallic items hidden in a human body.
It also stated that hand-held metal detectors and walk-through metal detectors cannot detect non-metallic items and explosives.
According to the circular, passengers have to remove jackets, belts, shoes and metallic items before entering a body scanner.
The body scanner in addition to generating the image of the human body will also highlight areas which need to be checked thoroughly with the help of a yellow spot, the circular added.
The circular claimed that the body scanners that have been designed using millimetre wave technology are safe for all kinds of passengers.