Showing posts with label check. Show all posts
Showing posts with label check. Show all posts

Tuesday 26 October 2021

Draft guideline issued to ensure ease during air travel for disabled people


October 27, 2021

The Civil Aviation Ministry on Tuesday issued draft guidelines for aviation sector stakeholders such as airlines and airports to ensure disabled people can travel at ease

Cover page of Draft Accessibility Standards and Provision of facilities for Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) in Civil Aviation Sector published 26 Oct 2021 with download link https://www.civilaviation.gov.in/sites/default/files/Accessibility-Standards-and-Provision-of-facilities-for-Persons-with-Disabilities.pdf


NEW DELHI : The Civil Aviation Ministry on Tuesday issued draft guidelines for aviation sector stakeholders such as airlines and airports to ensure disabled people can travel at ease.

Actor and dancer Sudha Chandran had last week, in a video posted on social media, narrated her ordeal of how she was made to remove her prosthetic limb every time during a security check at any airport.

According to the draft guidelines, airport operators must make special arrangements to facilitate screening of persons with special needs so that the process is carried out efficiently "keeping the dignity and privacy of the passenger in mind".

During the screening of prosthetics, the airport security -- which is handled by the CISF at most of the airports -- might use X-ray, explosive trace detection devices or visual checks according to their requirement, it mentioned.

The passenger -- who has a prosthetic limb -- will first pass through the door frame metal detector and should then be taken to a private screening point and made to sit comfortably, it noted.

This passenger will then receive additional screening including a pat-down, the draft guidelines said.

"A prosthetic appliance which does not have any foam padding cover under which any weapon or explosive can be concealed and in which the steel rod of the appliance is clearly visible may be screened by visual inspection and ETD checks only, without removing it."

However, in rare cases, where there is sufficient justification including profiling of the passenger, X-ray screening may be resorted to, it stated, adding the justification for subjecting a prosthetic limb to X-ray screening shall be recorded by the screener in a register

Prosthetic appliances that are covered in foam padding and in which the steel rod is not visible must undergo X-ray screening, it mentioned.

The draft guidelines also said that passengers who have external devices including insulin pumps, hearing aids, cochlear implants, spinal stimulators, bone growth stimulators and ostomies will not have to disconnect them for X-ray screening.

Under most circumstances, a passenger can conduct a self-pat-down of these devices followed by ETD screening of his or her hands, it added.

Disabled passengers should inform the airline about their complete requirement 48 hours before the scheduled departure so that the carrier can make necessary arrangements, it mentioned.

If a passenger wants to check-in their wheelchair at the airport, the airline must ensure that the wheelchair is duly taxed and sent to the baggage make-up area with a service partner to avoid any damage, it noted.

Passengers should check with the airline on the specific requirements of bringing service animals on flights. A low floor coach or a ramp should be used for comfortable boarding or debarring of wheelchair users, the draft guidelines mentioned.

"Airlines should ensure that a disability awareness training is conducted for new hires and ensure periodic refreshers are conducted for all staff to reiterate policies and standard operating procedures on customer assistance with different types of disabilities," it mentioned.

The Civil Aviation Ministry has given three weeks for people to send their comments and suggestions on the draft "Accessibility Standards and Guidelines for Civil Aviation", after which final guidelines will be issued.



Saturday 23 October 2021

CISF issues apology after Sudha Chandran shares airport ordeal due to her prosthetic limb

23 Oct 2021 

New Delhi :

Head shot of actor Sudha Chandran


After actor and dancer Sudha Chandran shared her ordeal at the airport due to the ‘grilling’ that was conducted because of her prosthetic limb, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has issued an apology on social media. They have promised that they will look into the matter and will “examine why the lady personnel concerned requested Ms. Sudhaa Chandran to remove the prosthetics.”

Responding to Sudha’s complaint where she also tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, CISF wrote, “We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused to Ms. Sudhaa Chandran. As per protocol, prosthetics are to be removed for security checks only under exceptional circumstances.”

They added, “We will examine why the lady personnel concerned requested Ms. Sudhaa Chandran to remove the prosthetics. We assure Ms.Sudhaa Chandran that all our personnel will be sensitised again on the protocols so that no inconvenience is caused to travelling passengers.”

In an Instagram video shared on Thursday, Sudha Chandran shared that every time she travels for her professional assignments, she is grilled by the security agencies. Despite her request to the airport authorities to conduct an ETD (Explosive Trace Detector) for her artificial limb, they ask her to remove it every time. Sudha Chandran lost her leg in an accident. But she returned to acting and dancing with a prosthetic limb.

The actor also urged PM Modi to issue a card to people with prosthetic limbs just like senior citizens who are issued a card. “Good evening, this is a very personal note that I want to tell to our dear Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji, this is an appeal to the central government, I am Sudhaa Chandran, an actress and dancer by profession, who has danced with an artificial limb and created history and made my country very proud of me,” she said in her post.

“But every time that I go on my professional visits, each time, am stopped at the airport and when I request them at the security, to the CISF officers that please do an ETD (Explosive Trace Detector) for my artificial limb, they still want me to remove my artificial limb and show it to them. Is this humanly possible, Modi ji? Is this what our country is talking about? Is this the respect that a woman gives to another woman in our society?” she asked.

Sudha Chandran is a popular face on Indian television. She became a household name after playing the role of Ramola Sikand in Kaahin Kissii Roz. She has been a part of Ekta Kapoor’s hit TV show Naagin as well.

indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/television/cisf-issues-apology-after-sudha-chandran-shares-airport-ordeal-due-to-her-prosthetic-limb-7585294/


Tuesday 29 August 2017

Discriminated for no fault: Airlines, airports in India fail their ‘special’ fliers

For the disabled, journeys on domestic flights are tales of never-ending turbulence. Days after the de-boarding of paraathlete Madhu Bagri from a Hyderabad-bound plane, the demand for standardisation of air travel protocols for the disabled has grown stronger. 

Hyderabad: International paraathlete Suvarna Raj says that she was de-boarded from a plane in a similar manner last month. “I reached a little late than usual and was given my boarding pass. But they denied me entry because my security check would take longer,” she says. She missed her flight and was allocated a seat on a flight which departed the next day. 

Experts say that such an incident would have never occurred had India been following International Protocol and using Explosive Trace Detection Systems (ETDs). These systems allow for security checks to be carried out without disabled persons having to part with their accessibility gear. 

Nipun Malhotra, the founder of the Nipman Foundation, says, “I filed an RTI and found that over 77 airports in the country have ETDs, but they are not being used anywhere. Instead, we are forced to be transferred from our wheelchair or remove our prosthetic limbs in the name of security.”

Persons with disability ask why they have to undergo such humiliation when the necessary technology is available.

Their troubles do not end after the security check. “As per the procedure that is followed internationally, disabled persons are allowed to take their wheelchairs up to the aircraft door, where they are shifted to aisle chairs which can pass through the cabin. However, in India, the wheelchair goes into the baggage compartment and disabled passengers are physically lifted and carried to their seats, which is not only dangerous but also humiliating,” says Ms Suvarna Raj. Some airlines do not have aisle chairs, in which case the availability of seats in the front row becomes crucial, as was in the case of Madhu Bagri.

As per the protocol to be followed in Boeing flights, disabled persons may be seated in the front row. However, in smaller ATR flights, the emergency exit doors are located in the front, requiring mobile persons to be seated adjacent to them.

Accessibility experts say that some airlines do not have any provision for the assistance of disabled persons, as a result of which they are forced to crawl or drag themselves to their seats, which constitutes a violation of their human rights.

“The crux of the problem is that there is no penalty. Every time a disabled person with some privilege faces a problem, it is highlighted. But many unprivileged disabled persons face problems on a daily basis. Why can’t the Directorate General of Civil Aviation penalise airlines, airports instead of merely issuing warnings?” asks Mr Javed Abidi, the director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People. 

Mr Abidi has helped the CISF chalk out a detailed plan of action. He says that the airline services must incorporate a provision for the declaration of disability at the ticketing stage to avoid such hassles.