[1]The lack of adequate manpower with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) that provides security at the Chennai airport is also one of the reasons for the delay in the opening of the new international terminal.
“Lack of adequate manpower with customs and CISF is causing the delay in the commissioning of the new international terminal. We have already sent a request to the home ministry. We will again make an appeal for early deployment of additional manpower,” said Airports Authority of India chairman V. P. Agrawal.
According to CISF sources, the paramilitary force in the city requires at least 400 more personnel to add to the current strength of 1,000 personnel to meet the security requirements at the Chennai airport.
A senior airport official said the manpower deployment is based on a survey jointly conducted by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), AAI and CISF. As per the survey, the city airport needs at least 1,400 personnel to control security.
On Saturday, the first batch of CISF assistant sub-inspectors trained exclusively for airport management security that includes screening and frisking would pass out of the recruit-training centre in Arakkonam.
“It was decided to earmark certain group for aviation security and so we imparted basic security training and aviation security management courses for trainees at Arakkonam,” said a senior official.
The official added that about 700 personnel trained specifically for aviation security would be posted at 59 airports across the country.
“We expect 30 personnel from the new batch to be deployed at Chennai airport,” the official added.
However, he said the decision to increase manpower at the city airport is pending with the home ministry.
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[1] http://archive.asianage.com/securityjpgcropdisplayjpg-901