Security upgrade at Delhi airport

NEW DELHI: The Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in New Delhi is all set for a security beef-up. The GMR Group-led consortium, responsible for modernising the airport, is planning to pump in about Rs300 crore over a period of three years to upgrade the security gadgets at the airport.

The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) have drawn up a plan to tighten and improve the security arrangements at the airport so that it is on a par with airports in the US and Europe.

Bomb killer blankets, bomb destroyers, hi-tech CCTV cameras, explosive trace detectors and body scanners are some of the equipments to be acquired, said an airport source. Security at both the international and domestic terminals would be beefed-up. 

The airport had recently installed a non-invasive security device called “millimeter wavelength technology system” on a trial basis. Other body scanners are under consideration for the airport’s new security apparatus.

The IGI airport, which handles about 55,000 passengers on a daily basis, finds it difficult to tackle long queues for security checks.

But with the installation of the new security system, these queues would significantly reduce, said airport officials.

The IGI is the second busiest airport in the country, next only to Mumbai. The GMR group expects the Delhi airport to become the busiest in the country by 2010.

With greater passenger volume, security would obviously be a matter of grave concern.