Fliers hesitant to try new body scanner

NEWDELHI: “The amount of radiation you get from using your phone everyday is more than what you will get by passing through the body scanner. It is not harmful at all,” a CISF personnel was telling a passenger at Delhi airport’s Terminal 3. He was trying to convince the passenger to go through the newly installed full-body scanner.

From taking passengers’ queries about radiation levels to dispelling their misgivings about the kind of images the new machine could put out, security staff at Delhi airport is doing everything to convince passengers to go through the scanner.

“You just have to stand in here for three seconds. It will not produce naked images,” said the personnel to another passenger. The trial run of the scanner started on Monday and 150 passengers have gone through it.

“The performance will be assessed after 10,000 scans. Some are going through it out of curiosity. Others are aware of its use as they have travelled to other countries. But a majority, especially women, are hesitant,” said a CISF official.

The scanner produces mannequin-like images and detects hidden items in the body. In view of the privacy concerns raised by passengers over X-Ray images that the body scanners produce at airports across the world, the Bureau for Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has asked the manufacturers to configure the machines to ensure that the images don’t reveal body parts.

The scanning takes less than a minute and it comes with privacy filters. The scanner can reveal plastic and liquid explosives, composite weapons, plastic and metal guns, drugs, ceramic and metal knives, box cutters, precious metals and recording devices.

The scanners are used at several international airports and Delhi is India’s first airport to experiment with it. “It’s voluntary as it is a trial . The checks will be compulsory when we use them permanently,” said a Bureau for Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) official.

The scanner has been brought from the United States and another one from Germany will arrive next week. “We want to test both the technologies simultaneously to decide which one is better. During the trial run, passengers’ feedback will be taken,” said the official.