No special security force at airports

The home ministry has turned down a proposal mooted by the civil aviation ministry to raise a special aviation force for providing security cover to the airports across the country. The proposed aviation force was to work under the administrative control of the bureau of civil aviation.

The home ministry is of the view that the CISF, currently providing security at all major airports, is competent enough and gradually its deployment on all airports should be enhanced further replacing the local police or any other security agency. The home ministry will soon conduct a detailed security audit of all airports in the country to ascertain what steps need to be initiated to make the arrang-ements more foolproof.

“As of now there is no need for a separate special aviation force as CISF is competent enough to do the job. Instead we will do a detailed audit for all major airports in the country to see if there are any security lapses and how these can be plugged,” a ministry official said.

The view within the home ministry is that CISF in fact is already a specialised force as it has been raised with the specific purpose of guarding vital installations like industrial units, metros and airports. The CISF, officials added, has been performing well in guarding the airports and no major security breach has been reported ever since they were mandated with this task.

The CISF is also working in close co-ordination with the local police, which normally provides the outer security cordon while the central police force looks after the inner cordon and security within the airport premises. “The CISF has good co-ordination with the local police and intelligence agencies and there is no need to disturb this arrangement right now,” the official added.

Sources said the security audit for the airports could start in another week and is expected to be completed in about a month’s time following which the home ministry will once again convene a meeting to discuss the report and take corrective measures. The ministry is also examining the possibility of funding all airport security related expenditure and may reimburse the amount to the respective state governments.