Chennai: All passengers arriving from Japan will be screened for radiation contamination at the airport here following an instruction from the ministry of civil aviation to all international airports.
"The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will be in charge of the checks at all airports. The ministry has already instructed airports to start checking passengers from Japan," union civil aviation minister Vayalar Ravi said over the phone from New Delhi.
The move comes after Japanese authorities said the stricken reactors at the Fukushima plant may have started to spew radioactive steam.
At the Chennai airport, all steps were taken to conduct the checks from Friday. "The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will conduct the test at the passenger terminal. A team from the CISF Recruit Training Centre in Arakkonam which has the necessary equipment and staff will arrive to conduct the screening," said airport director E P Hareendranath.
He said the CISF had been told to dispatch the team as early as possible to ensure the checks could be started on Thursday night itself.
Chennai does not have direct flights from Japan but passengers from that country arrive via Hong Kong or Singapore. "The CISF team will get passenger details from immigration department and screen them if they are from Japan. A procedure is being established to identify passengers and to conduct the check," he added.
18/03/11 V Ayyappan/Times of India
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