CISF reiterates that Shifting from personal wheelchairs or removal of prothetic limbs not mandatory at Airports

Dear Colleagues,

Please refer to my earlier post titled "CISF amends guidelines to avoid humiliating security checks at Airports for people with disabilities" dated 14 October 2017 detailing the decision taken in a joint meeting of senior officials of CISF, BCAS, DGCA & stakeholders from different disability groups on 11 October 2017 which was also attended by the author.

However, complaints are still being received from different airports that the CISF officials are still unaware of this decision and insisting the users to shift from their personal wheelchairs to the airport wheelchairs to scan their personal wheelchairs. This has forced the CISF to issue the below clarification through this media report in Hindustan Times again. The circular is still not put in public domain by the BCAS though. The last circular cum PIB Press Release which is available in public domain dates back to the 28 March 2014 when "Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) for Screening of Passengers with Special Needs and Medical Conditions" were issued. (These are also available on this blog at BCAS Security Rules.) 

Here is the news report from the Hindustan Times dated 09 March 2018

Removal of prosthetic limbs not mandatory for security checks at airports: CISF

As per earlier security norms, disabled passengers were shifted to wheelchairs during pre-embarkation frisking at airports.

New Delhi | Mar 09, 2018 

The CISF on Friday said it has decided not to ask differently abled passengers to take off their prosthetic limbs for security checks at airports across the country, except in rare cases when profiling necessitates such action.

The move is a part of new security norms to avoid inconvenience to such persons, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officiating Director General Alok Kumar Pateria said at his annual press conference in New Delhi.

CISF Additional Director General M.A. Ganpathy (incharge of airport section) said: “We have now instructed our personnel to visually inspect passengers wearing prosthetic limbs and only ask them for further scrutiny if initial profiling shows something amiss.

As per earlier security norms, disabled passengers were shifted to wheelchairs during pre-embarkation frisking at airports.

He said that the decision was taken in a meeting attended by CISF and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) officers a few months ago.

“The idea was to review the existing BCAS provisions which without compromising on safety make them disabled-friendly.”

Another CISF officer said that a prosthetic which does not have any foam padding cover under which weapon/explosive can be concealed and in which a steel rod is clearly visible, may be visually screened and undergo explosive trace detector checks without removal.

Only in rare cases where there is sufficient justification based on profiling of the passenger may x-ray screening be resorted to, he said.