Government mandates full body scanners at 8 airports; no timeline yet, trials on

NEW DELHI: Indian airports may finally see full body scanners (FBS) after several missed deadlines in the past few years due to changing regulatory requirements. Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) DG Rajesh Nirwan said on Thursday that FBS have been mandated for eight airports and trials are on at Bengaluru and Kochi. Kochi is not among the airports where the same has been mandated. Hyderabad and Delhi are in that list, and "site acceptance" is under way there.The scanners installed for trials are integrated to door-frame metal detectors and the results of the former are matched with what the latter detects during passenger checks. BCAS is collecting the data and the algorithms will be refined based on the outcome.Dismissing privacy concerns, Nirwan said scanners are being made "image agnostic" as they will just be a model of a person.Get the latest India News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.