airport securityNew Delhi, Oct 13 (PTI) The CISF will no longer carry outthe "humiliating" airport security drill of asking people withdisabilities (PWDs) to remove their prosthetics or makingpassengers get up from their wheelchair for screening, said atop official.
In a major decision aimed at easing air travel woes ofthose who are disabled, the Central Industrial Security Forcewill use explosive trace detectors (ETDs) and visualprofiling, said CISF Director General (DG) O P Singh.
CISF took the decision to undertake a massive training ofits personnel to usher in the new regime at all Indianairports under its cover following a recent meeting with PWDactivists, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) andother stakeholders.
It will also conduct a country-wide survey to find outhow many such passengers travel by air each day.
"The aim is to ensure that such passengers do not faceany humiliation or uneasiness when they travel through Indianairports. We have seen numerous complaints in this regard.
"What we have decided now is to use explosive tracedetectors and the visual profiling method of the passenger andhis prosthetic tool or wheelchair rather than asking them totake out everything," Singh told PTI.
PTI was the first to report that the force wasconsidering doing away with cumbersome security procedures offrisking PWDs by using smart gadgets instead.
An ETD is a smart machine which sniffs explosiveparticles or traces present in a device and gives an alert.
According to Singh, the current procedure of askingpassengers to take off their prosthetics before boarding aflight and displacing those on wheelchair, so that it can beput in a scanner, will only be resorted to in "select cases orin case of suspicion".
"We are soon going to issue a fresh list of standardoperating procedures (SOPs) to usher the new regime in auniform manner," he said.
"We will also conduct a survey at all the 59 airportsthat we guard to see how many such PWD passengers we receiveon an average. That will give us a fair idea as to how to goabout implementing the new SOPs."A senior official in the CISF airport sector said theyhave estimates that about eight-10 such passengers use Delhi'sIndira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) everyday, thebusiest airport in the country.
"Passengers with prosthetics will be asked to remove themonly under compelling circumstances which will be purelysecurity concerns. The same procedure will be adopted forwheelchair bound passengers and those with otherdisabilities," the official said.
The director general added that CISF was also looking at"simplifying the security procedures for passengers withorthopaedic issues."In case of prosthetics with foam padding, he said, CISFpersonnel will use new SOPs but can seek its removal, keepingin mind security concerns.
Disability rights activist Javed Abidi, who attended arecent meeting with the CISF authorities on the subject,raised his concerns during a recent conversation.
"I have travelled across the globe for so many years nowbut only at an Indian airport do I have to get down from mywheelchair so that the security personnel on duty can put itinside a large x-ray machine to check it against explosivesand other hazardous material that can be threat to theaircraft or aviation security," Abidi, the convener of theDisabled Rights Group, said.
It is very difficult and embarrassing, he said, forpeople who have prosthetic or artificial limbs to take out theentire part in full public view inside an airport.
The CISF is the central paramilitary force tasked withguarding 59 civil airports in the country. PTI NESMIN.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.