Niraj Ranjan Das, director general of the CISF, who was speaking on the occasion of its 40th Raising Day ceremony, said the plan included making provisions for concourse security — an elaborate security check at the first entry point to the airport. “We are planning to check passengers and their baggage at the airport gate itself after incidents where bullet shells were recovered from inside the airport premises. We have plans to have a thorough security check at the first entry gate itself to avoid any untoward incident,” Das said at the annual CISF press conference.

The proposal comes in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks and an increased threat perception at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. At present, only the Srinagar airport has a concourse plan, where passengers are thoroughly frisked before entering the airport.

Officials, however, said a concourse plan cannot be implemented in Delhi. “In India, only the security hold plan works, as the concourse plan would lead to traffic congestion,” MS Bali, Additional Director General, Airport Security, said. Senior CISF officials said the modalities of such a plan were being worked out.

In the security hold checking plan, passengers and their baggage are thoroughly checked only upon entry into the security hold area, and not at the first entry point into the airport.