Indian airports could be the weak link in the country's security chain because of wrong people doing the right jobs.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has appointed close to 40 officials at various airports in key managerial positions of its security establishment.
But they have little professional experience in this specialised job. Some have been earlier working as personal assistants (PAs), stenographers, electricians and accountants in AAI's finance department.
These candidates were handpicked by the AAI management through an internal department promotion (IDP) scheme which was introduced in 2014 for appointment of managers and assistant managers to handle the sensitive security wing.
Sources said that a recent incident, in which AAI's chief security officer of the Srinagar airport had breached the security protocol "multiple times", was the outcome of this ill-conceived move of promoting employees from other departments and posting them in the security wing as part of a 'lateral movement' policy.
Mail Today has found out that the security manager, Tilak Raj Guglani, who created the embarrassment, was earlier working as a PA in AAI. He was promoted as part of the IDP scheme and posted at Srinagar airport as his first job in the security set-up.
09/06/16 SPS Pannu/India Today
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The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has appointed close to 40 officials at various airports in key managerial positions of its security establishment.
But they have little professional experience in this specialised job. Some have been earlier working as personal assistants (PAs), stenographers, electricians and accountants in AAI's finance department.
These candidates were handpicked by the AAI management through an internal department promotion (IDP) scheme which was introduced in 2014 for appointment of managers and assistant managers to handle the sensitive security wing.
Sources said that a recent incident, in which AAI's chief security officer of the Srinagar airport had breached the security protocol "multiple times", was the outcome of this ill-conceived move of promoting employees from other departments and posting them in the security wing as part of a 'lateral movement' policy.
Mail Today has found out that the security manager, Tilak Raj Guglani, who created the embarrassment, was earlier working as a PA in AAI. He was promoted as part of the IDP scheme and posted at Srinagar airport as his first job in the security set-up.
09/06/16 SPS Pannu/India Today
