Tuesday, August 16, 2016

No Indian airport safe, warns IB; Home Ministry orders major security overhaul

New Delhi: Amid growing concerns over safety of Indian airports, the Intelligence Bureau issued a fresh warning on Tuesday, saying that no Indian airport is fully equipped to stand a Brussels-like terror attack.

The warning holds significance in the wake of reports that India has not accorded specialised CISF security cover to over two dozen of its operational airports owing to lack of funds.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) today ordered a security audit of all airports in the country in the wake of recent attacks at Brussels and Istanbul airports.
The report will be submitted by a multi-agency committee comprising of agencies like Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and Central Industrial Security Force or CISF.

Importantly, the Centre also rejected the Civil Aviation Ministry's proposal for a specialized force called Aviation Security Force for ensuring security at the Indian airports and, instead asked the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to guard all Indian airports.

A total of 27 functional airports are being secured by other security forces like CRPF, India Reserve Battalions (IRBs) or state police units, keeping the designated aviation security force CISF out.

Earlier this year, a report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture had expressed its concern, saying it found it ''quite scary to know that the security of eight of hyper-sensitive and 19 sensitive airports are not covered by the CISF which has now become the only specialised force for aviation security."
16/08/16 Ritesh K Srivastava/Zee News
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

0 comments:

Post a Comment