NEW DELHI, Sept 20:
Strengthening its capability to detect arms and ammunition, the Army will procure full-body truck scanners to check cargo which will be deployed in insurgency-hit areas such as Jammu and Kashmir.
There is a proposal to procure full-body scanners for checking cargo in trucks for the Military Intelligence and it will be discussed at the next meeting of Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), sources told reporters here.
The DAC is the top decision-making body of the Defence Ministry headed by Defence Minister A K Antony.
Sources said the scanning equipment is required by the force to be deployed at places in Jammu and Kashmir where cross-border trade routes have been opened across the Line of Control (LoC).
“There is an urgent requirement to procure and install full-body truck scanners to scan cargo trucks with goods, including driver’s cabin, without unloading and unpacking the cargo to avoid illegal transshipment of restricted items like arms, ammunition and chemicals,” Army had recently said in a global Request for Information.
Once the DAC clears the proposal, the Army would be allowed to issue a global Request for Proposal for procuring the equipment.
The Army has been working to procure these equipment for a long time but two similar attempts have failed.
The Army was close to finalise a contract in this regard in 2010 but the process had to be scrapped after allegations of corruption.
The Army wants that the scanners should also be able detect radioactive and nuclear material as well as sniff out various explosives, different types of detonators, circuits, cordex wires, electronic components and chemicals. (PTI)
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