Set up separate security agency for airports, clear CISF’s Rs 4.7k cr dues: Par Panel

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

parliamentary panel has recommended setting up a specialised security agency for airports with more than one-sixth of CISF units exclusively deployed there. This should be done by the civil aviation ministry in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, it said. As airports owe more than Rs 4,700 crore to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) — of which over Rs 3,000 crore is from 16 joint venture airports — the parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture chaired by YSR Congress leader V Vijaysai Reddy has sought reasons for it and ask for its earliest clearance. Noting that 66 units of CISF or 18.7% of its total units are deployed at airports only, the panel in its report highlighted the need for a separate security agency as the civil aviation sector has seen an exponential growth and will grow at a faster space in near future, which will enhance the need for manpower to provide security. “The Committee, therefore, recommends that the Ministry of Civil Aviation may examine the feasibility of setting up a specialized security agency for airports only, in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs,” the report states.

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It said CISF is securing 66 airports in the country including 23 hypersensitive airports, 38 sensitive airports and five normal airports and the force has an outstanding dues of more than Rs 4,707 crore. The panel said it hoped dues would be cleared at the earliest to enable the CISF to provide foolproof security at airports through deployment of enough manpower and the latest security gadgets at