Additional Manpower For Airport Security
Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in charge of Coimbatore Airport security is getting additional manpower. The Government has also sanctioned a resurvey of the manpower needs of the security agency for the third shift, especially for the operations at night.The induction of CISF to be in charge of airport security 2002 was part of a nationwide decision and it was done in phases. The sanctioned strength in 2002 was 130 when the airport had to handle traffic of about eight to 10 aircraft a day. But, today, the airport has an average of 22 aircraft movements a day and there has been a commensurate growth in passenger traffic. Commencement of international services resulted in operations at night overstretching the CISF personnel. The security level and needs were being revisited after six years.
According to the CISF sources, manpower increase for security had to be a co-ordinated exercise between CISF, Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). Once the agencies come to a consensus, then the process of sanction had to go through Aviation, Home and Finance Ministries. The AAI had to provide the logistics for the security agency besides meeting the bill for hosting them.
Now there are proper guidelines and norms for fixing the scale of security on the basis of number of aircraft, hours of operation, passenger movement and number of buildings and the gates that need to be manned thus removing any mismatch between the availability and the need, the sources said. After an on-the-spot study by the three agencies, the final allocation is made and then it goes through the three ministries.
When contacted by , CISF deputy commandant Arun Singh confirmed that the Government had sanctioned 40 more personnel for enhancing security at the airport and the increased manpower should be available by December end. He also confirmed that sanction had been accorded for a resurvey of the manpower need (i.e. the demand after taking into account the existing strength and the additional manpower sanctioned now). The resurvey would focus on the manpower need for the third shift i.e., for operations at night which could be in the range of 25 to 30 more personnel, the sources said.
