"Indian security forces praised for tight security at airports"

Saturday, December 4, 2004

CISF praised for tight security at airports
India - The Hindu


It was a focused narration on the sequence of events that led to the
introduction of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) for security in
major airports in India that Vinay Kumar, Principal Secretary to the
Government, Department of Infrastructure Development, gave at a seminar on
aviation safety.

The seminar was organized by the Airports Authority of India at Bajpe
airport here on Thursday.

Mr. Kumar said the Kandahar hijacking in December 1999 had given the
planners enough food for thought on the need to constantly upgrade security
at airports.

"One cannot as a passenger wash one's hands of the safety aspect and expect
the men on the ground (CISF) to do their job. It is a collective effort,''
he said.

He recalled the tension and anxiety that followed the hijacking of the
flight to Kandahar. It was then that the Centre decided to put the CISF in
charge of airport security.

Mr. Kumar said the decision had paid rich dividends. In the last five years,
there had been considerable improvement in safety in airports. "Our security
has to succeed all the time, but they (terrorists) have to succeed just
once," he said.

Airport expansion

M.R. Vasudeva, Airport Director, who presided over the function, said: "Even
one mistake on our part is not acceptable.

Air safety is all about 100 per cent alertness and the ability to deal with
exigencies in the shortest possible time,'' he said. The Bajpe airport
followed all the 18 annexures of the International Civil Aviation
Organization, he said.

About the airport expansion, he said work on the second runway had just
commenced although a survey carried out in the early Seventies had
recognized the need for it. A proposal to this effect was sent in 1988. "We
are getting it (second runway) now and in the process have lost out to
Calicut and Kochi," he said.

Mr. Vasudeva appealed to Mr. Kumar to clear all the project-related
bottlenecks at the earliest.

M.N. Rao, Deputy General Manager, welcomed the gathering. The Deputy
Commissioner, Arvind Shrivastava, and the Superintendent of Police,
Soumendhu Mukherjee, were present.


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