NEW DELHI: Security check at Delhi international airport will never be the same again. There will be state-of-the-art X-ray machines, explosive detectors, but no more curtained partitions for frisking and finally some discipline to long unwieldy queues.

"A sea-change will be seen at the security hold areas of the international terminal complex within a fortnight. This will reduce congestion at the international airport. It will also expedite passage of passengers in embarkation checks,'' said a source. Going beyond just making the airport look better, these changes will ensure that chaos is not the first impression passengers get when they take a flight from the airport. While the international terminal will be first to introduce these security measures, similar methods will be used at the domestic terminal also.

Part of the modernisation process, these changes, sources claim, is also related to the heightened security measures being taken all over the world. Putting in more stringent steps, electronic barriers are being put in operational areas to reduce anyone tampering with cabin baggage.

"In the present situation there is a lot of confusion, so someone can slip into the place where cabin baggage is kept. We are now making the system more efficient so that there are no slip-ups. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will also hand passengers their hand-baggage after it has been through the X-ray machines. This didn't happen before,'' said an official.

Apart from streamlining the system to make it safer, CISF will now create more openings for passengers for security check at the international terminal. The nylon ropes that marked the entrances to the Security Hold Areas (SHA) will no longer be the norm and will be replaced by rollers. Nine such counters will be opened.

Earlier, passengers could check-in from any of the numerous counters manned by airlines and through the 28 immigration booths to finally get to the SHA through only four openings. "This created a bottle-neck. We have now increased the security opening to nine. This will reduce the chaos,'' pointed out an official.

There will also be dedicated single queues for airlines to get into the SHA. "Security personnel earlier had no idea about which passengers needed to be put on priority. Airlines will be responsible for getting their passengers into this queue and there will be separate queues for each flight,'' pointed out the official.

Bringing in a host of state-of-the-art equipment, hand-baggage will being passed through a very advanced X-ray machine that will literally give a "picture-perfect" view of the items inside. The international terminal will get 20 of these machines by the end of the year. But to kick off the process, CISF is expecting to get nine such machines by the end of September.

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