 "CISF cover absent at 27 airports")
A report by security agencies says India has not accorded specialised Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) security cover to about 24 sensitive airports for the last five years owing to lack of funds.
A total of 27 such functional airports are being secured by other security forces, such as CRPF, India Reserve Battalions (IRBs) or state police units, keeping the designated aviation security force CISF out. A report by a department related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture early this year had also expressed its concern, saying it found it “quite scary to know that the security of eight of our hyper-sensitive and 19 of our sensitive airports are not covered by the CISF which has now become the only specialised force for aviation security”.
Out of the 26 airports in the country, 18 are under CISF cover while six like Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir and others are not. Under the sensitive category there are 56 airports out of which only 37 have the paramilitary's cover and among 16 normal airports only four have CISF security. To sum up, of the 98 functional airports, 59 are under CISF cover leaving out 39. The about-142,000 personnel-strong CISF has a dedicated and trained unit for the task under its establishment called the Aviation Security Group and has almost 22,000 men and women commandos.
“Airports are critical infrastructure and very vital from the perspective of national security. Any large-scale damage or terrorist attack on the airport would be catastrophic with far reaching grave implications for the citizens and the economy. Explanations given to the committee for non-deployment of CISF at remaining airports was lack of funds,” the report, accessed by PTI, said.
The report also speaks about the status of CISF security cover given to airports till now, adding the committee has recommended that the force should be deployed on priority to hyper-sensitive and sensitive airports in the first go.
Out of the 59 airports under CISF cover, 53 are operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and six by joint ventures or private players.
"The Committee has observed that security must be adequate and in proportion to the threat perception. Funds should not come in the way of providing security. The committee has recommended that security component of PSF needs to be enhanced to be commensurate with the security expenditure and ensure that security is not compromised and the PSF security component must be deposited in the Consolidated Fund of India," the report said.
Passenger Service Fees (PSF) is levied to meet the expenditure on airport security and passenger facilities at Indian airports.
"The committee recommends all the airports rated hyper-sensitive from security angle be given to CISF as soon as possible followed by the sensitive airports. In view of shortages of manpower and logistics available with CISF, security of normal airports can continue with state police for the time being. But these airports also be given all modern equipment, training etc," it said.
Bomb threat at IGI Airport
Security at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi was scaled up, after a local hotel received a call about bomb threat to half a dozen flights. The Bomb Threat Assessment Committee was checking whether the call was specific or non-specific, a source said, adding operations at IGIA were “absolutely normal” at this stage. Some of the flights mentioned by the anonymous caller do not exist, the source said. In the last one week, several such calls have been received by various airlines.
A total of 27 such functional airports are being secured by other security forces, such as CRPF, India Reserve Battalions (IRBs) or state police units, keeping the designated aviation security force CISF out. A report by a department related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture early this year had also expressed its concern, saying it found it “quite scary to know that the security of eight of our hyper-sensitive and 19 of our sensitive airports are not covered by the CISF which has now become the only specialised force for aviation security”.
Out of the 26 airports in the country, 18 are under CISF cover while six like Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir and others are not. Under the sensitive category there are 56 airports out of which only 37 have the paramilitary's cover and among 16 normal airports only four have CISF security. To sum up, of the 98 functional airports, 59 are under CISF cover leaving out 39. The about-142,000 personnel-strong CISF has a dedicated and trained unit for the task under its establishment called the Aviation Security Group and has almost 22,000 men and women commandos.
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A report recently prepared by the CISF and intelligence agencies has borrowed from the observations of the Parliamentary committee to underline the need for stepping up security at the airports.
“Airports are critical infrastructure and very vital from the perspective of national security. Any large-scale damage or terrorist attack on the airport would be catastrophic with far reaching grave implications for the citizens and the economy. Explanations given to the committee for non-deployment of CISF at remaining airports was lack of funds,” the report, accessed by PTI, said.
The report also speaks about the status of CISF security cover given to airports till now, adding the committee has recommended that the force should be deployed on priority to hyper-sensitive and sensitive airports in the first go.
Out of the 59 airports under CISF cover, 53 are operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and six by joint ventures or private players.
"The Committee has observed that security must be adequate and in proportion to the threat perception. Funds should not come in the way of providing security. The committee has recommended that security component of PSF needs to be enhanced to be commensurate with the security expenditure and ensure that security is not compromised and the PSF security component must be deposited in the Consolidated Fund of India," the report said.
Passenger Service Fees (PSF) is levied to meet the expenditure on airport security and passenger facilities at Indian airports.
"The committee recommends all the airports rated hyper-sensitive from security angle be given to CISF as soon as possible followed by the sensitive airports. In view of shortages of manpower and logistics available with CISF, security of normal airports can continue with state police for the time being. But these airports also be given all modern equipment, training etc," it said.
Bomb threat at IGI Airport
Security at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi was scaled up, after a local hotel received a call about bomb threat to half a dozen flights. The Bomb Threat Assessment Committee was checking whether the call was specific or non-specific, a source said, adding operations at IGIA were “absolutely normal” at this stage. Some of the flights mentioned by the anonymous caller do not exist, the source said. In the last one week, several such calls have been received by various airlines.