April 2: Fliers need no longer stand in long queues for security check at airports and bear with sometimes intrusive pat-downs if an ongoing pilot project to use imaging technology for body scanning is declared feasible.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security are trying out two body scanners at Delhi airport. The trial run of these machines, one each imported from the US and Germany, started around four months ago, CISF director general O.P. Singh said in Calcutta today.

"Two phases of the dry run have been done and we are waiting for the third phase (to start)," Singh told Metro in reply to a question.

He said the CISF wanted to adapt innovative technologies to enhance security, besides easing congestion at airports. But there are people challenges that security officials are already facing.

Singh said such screening, as of now, was not compulsory for passengers passing through Delhi airport. "We request passengers to volunteer for it. But there is a reluctance among a section of passengers, especially women, to opt for it. Many do not want to take off jewellery," the CISF boss said.

Many women object to body scanners also on grounds of privacy.

Although there is no official word on this yet, the body scanners currently being tested in Delhi do not screen the "armpits, ankle and groin area", a source in the CISF said.

At airports across India, passengers are frisked by CISF personnel at the security check counters. They first pass through a metal-detector frame before a pat-down. Hand baggage is scanned separately with an X-ray machine.

Fliers at Calcutta airport often have to stand in long queues for security check. Airport officials said the average waiting period for security clearance during the morning and evening peak hours was 10 minutes.

CISF officials said that if imaging technology were to be used, the waiting time would be considerably less. Security clearance through a scanner is projected to take between 15 and 30 seconds if nothing suspicious is detected.

A senior official said the waiting time for passengers at the boarding gates of Calcutta airport has already become shorter with the system of stamping hand-baggage tags being withdrawn with effect from April 1.

At most international airports, walk-through metal detectors and imaging technology are used to screen passengers. The Transportation Security Administration that handles security at US airports states: "Passengers may be required to undergo a pat-down procedure if the screening technology rings an alarm, as part of random or unpredictable security measures, for enhanced screening, or as an alternative to other types of screening, such as advanced imaging technology screening."

Last month, Jennifer Williamson, a Texas resident, had alleged that personnel at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport gave her son Aaron, who has a sensory processing disorder, a "traumatising" pat-down. She had requested that he be spared a pat-down.