E-Paper
Facial recognition system at Pune airport by March 2023
The facial recognition system is part of the Digi Yatra initiative of the Government of India. It is to be implemented in a phased manner
Facial recognition system will be implemented at Pune’s Lohegaon airport by March 2023, said Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation Gen VK Singh (Retd) in Lok Sabha on Monday.
The facial recognition system is part of the Digi Yatra initiative of the Government of India. It is to be implemented in a phased manner. The first phase is planned at Pune, Kolkata, Varanasi, Vijayawada, Bangalore, Delhi and Hyderabad airports by March 2023.
“It will be a big boost for Pune airport as facial recognition system will improve security standards at the airport. Since the new terminal will be also ready next year, Pune required an improvised system for security checks,” said a Pune airport official on condition of anonymity.
The preliminary testing of these systems along with registration for the ‘Day of Travel’ has been completed at the aforementioned airports, Singh said and noted that the security requirement is dynamic in nature.
He added that the civil aviation security regulator -- Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) -- reviews the security arrangements at airports from time to time and upgrades the same as per requirement in consultation with other agencies and stakeholders.
“The Digi Yatra Central Ecosystem envisages assessments (by independent teams to assess the level of security and system resilience to protect PII) and periodic audits by governing or regulatory bodies twice every year,” Singh had explained in the previous Parliament session in December last year.
The facial recognition system is as per industry ISO standards with the best-in-class National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) listed algorithms complying with data privacy and data protection requirement as laid down by the government.
