Airport security: CISF to beef up checks, seal abandoned

Security deployment in the country's civil airports will be beefed up and abandoned installations around these facilities will be sanitised as part of some new counter-terror measures being undertaken to enhance security measures at these locations by the CISF.
Officials said a host of airport security issues were discussed threadbare during a high-level meeting chaired by CISF Director General O P Singh with all his airport security commanders here yesterday.
The government has also recently underlined the requirement of security audit of nearly 100 civil airports, in the wake of growing threat of terror attacks, and it was proposed that all such facilities should be brought under the cover of Central Industrial Security Force gradually.

Officials said the CISF, along with other stakeholders vital for airports security, will also seek to deploy additional manpower and gadgets to check intrusion from the perimeter walls and towards the air side, where the tarmac is located for aircraft to take off and land.
They said the force will also enhance security deployment and maneuverability of its quick reaction teams on the city side, from where fliers get inside the airport. All the abandoned installations in the vicinity of these facilities will either sealed, demolished or security personnel deployed there.
Issues related to better training of CISF security personnel deployed at airports, enhancement of leadership skills of contingent commanders and seamless flow of command and communication will also be enhanced, they said.

While sources said airport security paraphernalia is a 'dynamic system' and no one solution fits all the cases, the element of promptness and secrecy on part of security agencies is the key and that is what is being looked into.

The force is also increasingly trying to bolster its presence and numbers from the present about eight cargo terminals at airports to a few more, they said.
The force, which at present secures 59 airports, is also introducing new modules to keep abreast its personnel and commandos to understand the changing modus operandi of terrorists who target these installations thronged by lakhs of people everyday.

Issues related to strict adherence to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) vis-a-vis airport entry and exit by passengers and official staff and further easing of security procedures for differently-abled fliers is also understood to have been reviewed during the meeting.
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Issues related to airport security were recently discussed during a high-level meet chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in the aftermath of the terror attack on Brussels' Zaventem airport where terrorists blew explosives inside the airport terminal, much before the 'security hold' area, where passengers and luggage are checked.
The Home Ministry discussed the move to bring 98 civil airports in the country under the security cover of the CISF, the specialised force for airport security.

Out of the total 98 functional airports in the country, 59 are under CISF cover, leaving out 39.
Among 98 airports, 26 airports, including Delhi and Mumbai, are considered hyper-sensitive. Of these hyper-sensitive airports, 18 are under CISF cover while six like Srinagar and Imphal are being guarded by CRPF, the state police or by other paramilitary forces.
Under the sensitive category, there are 56 airports out of which only 37 have CISF cover and amongst 16 other airports, only four have CISF security.
Reports of security audit being conducted by a team of experts from Ministry of Home Affairs, Intelligence Bureau and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security were also discussed the meeting, they said.