CHANDIGARH: Full truck body scanners will soon be installed at the Integrated Check Post at Attari on Indo-Pak border which will facilitate India’s bilateral trade with Pakistan and Afghanistan. At present, every truck which goes to Pakistan and comes from the neighbouring country is manually checked with the help of sniffer dogs.
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who unfurled a 107-foot tall tricolor here on Saturday, admitted that installation of these scanners was delayed but said that now the Union government had formed a committee for installation of the full-body scanners.
“The installation of full truck body scanners at the ICP was delayed due to a complaint that a company was quoting higher rates. Once we receive a complaint, we have to verify all the allegations. Thus it took time,” said Rijiju.
He also met the officials of Landport Authority of India, Customs, Border Security Force and other agencies at the ICP. Sources said that two full-body truck scanners at a cost of Rs 50 crore and high definition CCTV cameras costing Rs 5 crore would be installed.
Besides these, around 1.50 lakh square feet area where cargo is stored will be made into a concrete open perch and a 10,000 square feet space will be used to store gypsum, cement, soda ash and dry fruits which are imported from Pakistan.
An official pointed that in the past, the Customs Department had written several times to the Union government to install these scanners but in vain. As per the Land Ports Authority of India Act 2010, it is mandatory to install scanners at all those places through which international trade is carried out.