Ban on visitors at Ranchi airport

Ranchi: A red alert has been sounded at the Birsa Munda airport in Ranchi. The Airports Authority Of India (AAI) has imposed a blanket ban on the entry of visitors into the terminal building from August 4.
Ranchi is one of the sensitive airports due to increasing Naxalite activities in Jharkhand.
Entry of visitors will be totally banned from tomorrow and will continue till August 20 in the wake of the bomb blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad.
While an alert was always sounded a week before August 15 as a part of the regular annual feature and security drill, this year security has been tightened 11 days in advance.
Only passengers carrying valid tickets and baggage will be allowed to enter the airport terminal building from tomorrow — that too after strict checking.
Ticket sales at the counter will not be allowed and very soon officials would start checking both the hand baggages as well as the registered baggage right outside the airport to ensure that no explosives or arms gain entry.
Till now the hand and registered baggage had to pass through an X-ray machine and the passengers had to go through personal frisking of the body to ensure that they were not carrying any arms or explosives which could damage people and aircrafts. Even visitors coming to see off their friends and relatives could get an entry by purchasing tickets at the ticket counters while others were allowed to wait outside the building where rows of chairs had been placed.
03/08/08 The Telegraph

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Categories: Airports Aug 2008, Safety Aug 2008