CISF sanctioned additional 6,500 personnel to aviation security wing over last year and half
CISF, that guards 66 civil airports of the country, has been sanctioned an enhanced manpower of more than 6,500 personnel over the past 18 months to cater to the ever-increasing load of passengers and expansion of the existing facilities, official sources said. With the allocation of fresh personnel, the overall strength of this unit deployed to secure civil airports against terrorist, hijack and sabotage threats is now about 37,000 men and women including commando-trained troops, they said.
They said the fresh manpower has been granted to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) primarily for three reasons — the increasing passenger traffic volume, expansion of existing airports and the creation of new ones. Some of these 6,500 personnel were getting deployed at the airports in an ad-hoc or temporary manner to cater to the increased demand.
They were being borrowed from other CISF units, sources in the aviation security establishment told PTI. The Union home ministry has sanctioned these posts in a gradual manner over the last one-and-a-half year so that around 6,500 personnel could be permanently inducted into the ASG, trained in aviation security procedures and deployed for security duties at 66 airports under the CISF cover at present.
Out of this fresh strength, about 1,700 personnel have been earmarked for the international airport in Bengaluru and 1,400 for the Delhi international airport, the sources said. The Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru got a new terminal last November while the Indira Gandhi International Airport has seen an enhanced passenger traffic and expansion of terminals over the last few years.
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