The Centre has asked 84 airports of India, including those from the Northeast, to install body scanners latest by March 2021.

The Centre has classified 28 of these airports as 'hypersensitive' and the remaining as 'sensitive' and said that the hypersensitive airports need to install body scanners by March 2020.

The 28 'hypersensitive' airports include those from Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Jammu & Kashmir and the Northeast.

"Body scanners have the capacity to detect both metallic and non-metallic items hidden in a human body. Hand-held metal detectors and walk-through metal detectors cannot detect non-metallic items and explosives," stated a circular issued by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).

The circular further stated that the passengers would require removing jackets, belts, shoes and metallic items before entering a body scanner.

"The body scanner in addition to generating the image of the human body will also highlight areas which need to be checked thoroughly with the help of a yellow spot," the circular added.

It also further claimed that the body scanners that have been designed using millimeter wave technology and are safe for all kinds of passengers