Hyderabad Metro follows airport for security checks

Hyderabad: The security check procedure at Metro Rail stations has been altered with commuters needing to get their mobile phones screened separately, similar to the practice being followed at airports.

While the airports have been mulling to move away from removing laptops and mobile phones by installing sophisticated machines to check the gadgets, L&THMRL’s move has raised eyebrows.

As per the new rule, the commuters are required to place their wallets, mobile phones and any metallic item in a plastic tray in the X-ray scanner at the time of security frisking. Unlike airport security, the commuters need not remove mobiles and laptops from their bag, but can place these items in the bag and leave it in the scanner.

At several stations scanners have been upgr-aded. A police official said this would be the standard procedure as it reduces the time taken for manual searching.

“Often when people carry their phones or metal items, the metal detector goes off which leads to manual checking by the security. In case of doubt, we need to check the pockets manually and ask the passenger to remove all the things that they are carrying, which slows down the process. Placing these things in the scanner will help speed up the screening process without affecting the quality of the checks,” the police officer said.

The official noted that the items can be placed inside the bag, but shouldn’t be held in the hand. It will ease identification of any items left in the pockets.

Bottles and liquid items cannot be placed directly in the scanner as any leakage could damage them. They have to be placed in the plastic trays which will contain any spillage that may occur.

The Hyderabad Metro Rail has also gone back to the basic practice where boards have been put up at stations asking commuters to removing anything that are not allowed in the system that might they maybe carrying by mistake. 

A set of 10 security instructions have been released for the commuters. The remaining security personnel have been deployed at street level to avert any incidents and encroachments.