After the frisking fiasco involving former president APJ Abdul Kalam on a US-bound American airline last year, the US aviation security department, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), has conveyed to its Indian counterpart that it may exempt four to five categories of VVIPs from frisking before entering its aircraft.

The VVIP list is likely to include past and present presidents, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister and the present Union Cabinet. The list has been pruned down from some 30-40 categories of VVIPs, which currently figure in the country?s Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) list who are exempted from frisking.

The matter had come up for detailed discussion during a meeting of the Indo-US joint working group held in January this year.

?A formal response from the TSA is awaited. However, they have agreed in principle to exempt four-five categories of VVIPs from frisking ahead of boarding a flight,? said a senior civil aviation ministry official. The list will be prepared and finalised at the next meeting of the ministry with the US security agency.

Since such privileges are extended on a reciprocal basis, India will also review the list of US dignitaries it wants to exempt from frisking.

The US authorities may consider private screening for the VIPs separately at designated VIP lounges, as they had expressed reservations about accommodating the huge list of Indian VIPs for exemption.

Kalam?s frisking last year had outraged parliamentarians and the matter was raised in Parliament. Civil aviation minister Praful Patel had then claimed that the BCAS would be registering an FIR against Continental Airlines for conducting the security check on Kalam in violation of existing rules. The FIR was, however, never filed.

TSA, the highest transport security body in the US, was established in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, to secure US transportation systems. Since then, aviation security has been stepped up to combat terror attacks. It recently decided to enhance screening for those who hold a passport issued by, or are travelling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism.