Removal of footwear before body scanning to be made mandatory in Delhi airport, says report

Passengers travelling from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport will now be required to take off their footwear before body scan, reported Hindustan Times.  Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officers told the paper that the removal of the footwear will be made mandatory from April onwards.

The decision comes after tests conducted on the body scanning machines revealed that the German-made devices failed to deliver accurate results below the ankle during the scanning, said the report.

“The new scanner is more efficient. Earlier, we could not detect anything above a passenger’s eyes requiring them to take off headgear, be it a turban, hats or caps. The only drawback the current scanner has is that it does not properly detect anything below the ankle, and the passengers will have to take off their footwear,” an unnamed officer was quoted as saying in the report. The officer further added that the earlier model was not just time-consuming many complained about feeling claustrophobic while using them.