The parliamentary standing committee for Transport, Tourism and Culture has recommended that the Civil Aviation Ministry may examine setting up of a specialised security agency for airports, amid rising air passenger traffic.
“The civil aviation sector is expected to grow at a faster pace in the near future, which will enhance the need for manpower engaged in providing security for airports,” the panel said in its report tabled in Parliament on Monday. So far, there are 148 operational airports and the country’s domestic air passenger traffic grew 18.78 per cent to around 1.25 crore annually in June, it said. The report stated that the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) plays a pivotal role in providing security at airports – 66 units or 18.7 per cent of the total 353 units deployed by CISF, are at the airports only.
The civil aviation sector has seen an exponential growth and is expected to grow at a faster pace in near future, which will enhance the need for manpower engaged in providing security for airports. The Committee, therefore, recommends that the Ministry of Civil Aviation may examine the feasibility of setting up a specialised security agency for airports only, in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs,” it said.
The cost of deployment of CISF is paid by the airport management concerned, and in 2019, the ministry set up the National Aviation Security Fee Trust (NASFT), which remits the money for deployment costs to the security agency. The committee noted the outstanding dues of CoD for CISF are more than Rs 4,707 crore.
“Further, the 16 joint venture airports account for more than 64 per cent of the total outstanding CoD dues,” it said, suggesting prompt clearance of dues so “CISF to provide foolproof security at airports through deployment of enough manpower and the latest security gadgets at airports.”
The panel also noted that the Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) are overworked, handling both fighter and civilian aircraft at military airports with civilian enclaves, suggesting better mechanisms and increasing manpower at such dual-use airports. The report also proposed constituting a special airline wing to deal with police and courts in unruly air passenger behaviour cases and urged the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to enforce a zero-tolerance policy for such incidents and strict implementation of the ‘No Fly List’.
