Visakhapatnam: It's not only security concerns raised by the Indian Navy that is preventing 24x7 flight operations at Visakhapatnam airport from taking off. It now appears that the shortage of internal security manpower as well as airport staff is the biggest stumbling block to full-fledged operations at the airport.
After a survey on the flight and passenger traffic in October 2010 carried out by Airports Authority of India (AAI), the Vizag airport authorities had sought provision of 147 Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) staff to handle baggage screening, check-in, access control, and anti-hijacking operations inside the airport.
The airport, which was then handling nearly 5 lakh passengers per year, today has seen passenger traffic swelling to over 10 lakh. But it is manned by only around 120 CISF staffers. To add to this, there is a shortage of frisking machines as well.
01/12/12 Times of India
