Passengers at Patna airport. Telegraph picture

Patna, April 9: Going to see off or receive someone at the city airport? Remember to carry along your identity card, else you would not be let inside the airport.

Visitors to the Jaiprakash Narayan International Airp ort will now have to produce valid identity cards along with their entry tickets or temporary entry passes to gain entry into the lounge of the airport terminal building. The diktat comes into force keeping in view the security of the airport.

A similar system for travelling ticket-holders is already in place. The new system is likely to be implemented shortly. “We are working on the details of the new system after which it would be implemented,” Arvind Dubey, the director of the Patna airport, told The Telegraph.

Details are being worked out as to what would be accepted as identity proof.

At present, those entering the visitors’ lounge have to shell out Rs 30 to buy an entry ticket. On an average, more than 200 such visitors purchase these tickets daily. Once the new system is introduced, this ticket alone would not give permission for entry into the airport. One needs to produce proper identity proof along with the ticket to enter the lounge.

Citing reasons for planning the new system, the airport director said the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has recently sent a circular, which speaks about the introduction of a similar system at airports across the country. A few days earlier, The Telegraph had reported how the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has issued a directive for deputing dog squads across the airports of the country for security. Preparations are afoot to raise dog squads for Patna airport too. A team of four sniffer dogs would be deputed at the airport and a kennel for housing these dogs would be constructed on the Airports Authority of India (AAI) premises in Phulwari area. The services of the dog squad are likely to be available in a year’s time.

AAI has also taken steps to strengthen the security of Patna airport and 43 closed-circuit television cameras are being installed at strategic points to keep tabs on the movement of people across the airport. Work has already started and the closed-circuit television cameras are likely to become operational within three months.

In addition to the aforesaid steps, AAI has sanctioned funds for increasing the height of the boundary wall from Phulwari side. The existing wall is not high enough and one can easily have a view of the tarmac while standing on the Phulwari railway platform.

Similarly, the height of the boundary wall on the western side is also being increased. The AAI has also given permission for setting up one more watchtower in addition to the existing 10 towers.