Date:05/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/05/stories/2008120559920300.htm

New Delhi

More CCTVs for Delhi airport

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Security at Indira Gandhi International Airport here has been stepped up further following reports that terrorists might carry out an aerial attack or hijack an aircraft.

Though Delhi airport has been on high alert since the terror strikes in Mumbai, the authorities had beefed up security this past Sunday after receiving an anonymous e-mail threatening to blow up the airport.

The Central Industrial Security Force that manages security at most airports in the country has now deployed additional manpower.

According to sources, the National Security Guard has been put on stand-by. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has issued an advisory to passengers asking them to carry identification cards. Travellers will be required to undergo a thorough security check.

Secondary inspection

Airlines have also been asked to ensure a secondary ladder-point inspection whereby passengers would be frisked and their handbags checked before being allowed entry to the aircraft. “We have been checking passengers and their hand-bags at the gate of the terminal building just before they board the coach leading to the aircraft. This has been a part of our operational procedure for flights going to sensitive places. Now we are doing it for all our flights,” said an airline official.

Delhi International Airport Limited, which is developing the airport, has pressed into service a dedicated dog squad with Central Industrial Security Force handlers for checking different terminal buildings and car parking areas.

“Delhi airport has also introduced an explosive detection system. Three explosive vapour detectors have been procured for the CISF to carry out random checking of passenger baggage. Two ground bomb killer blankets are being used in the terminal buildings to take care of explosives or any other dangerous objects. The blankets will minimise the impact of any explosion,” claimed an official.

DIAL will also increase the number of closed-circuit television cameras inside the airport over the next few days.

“A four-layered intrusion detection system will be installed around the perimeter of the airport by mid-2009. The all-weather system can effectively track any kind of intrusion to airport land and sound an alarm,” the official said.

At the recently renovated international terminal, DIAL has introduced an online baggage screening system, wherein cameras installed in the belts can search for and analyse any prohibited items.