NEW DELHI : India’s swelling airports need thousands of additional security and immigration personnel to avoid the kind of crush witnessed at the beginning of the year, an aviation ministry study found.
Just eight airports alone need 3,800 more Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel and 440 more immigration staff, found the study, which covered the metro airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai, as well as airports in Bagdogra, Indore, Jammu and Srinagar. The ministry had sought these airports’ inputs on the status of their operation and preparations for the peak travel season as part of the study that began earlier this year.
“In line with the shortage identified, the civil aviation ministry and other stakeholders are working to deploy additional manpower by CISF in two phases by October and by November. The staff reinforcement from the Bureau of Immigration is expected to start by October,” a government official aware of the matter said.
The study aimed to assess these airports’ requirements ahead of preparing a detailed plan to handle an expected air traffic surge in the December quarter and after. Snaking queues outside and surging crowds inside airports during the same period last year had sparked numerous complaints, prompting aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to step in to provide respite.
Airport executives held multiple rounds of discussions with ministry officials to identify bottlenecks and suggest stop-gap arrangements and submitted their requirements for the strongest quarter for travel, the official cited above said on condition of anonymity.
The study found Delhi international airport, which has a CISF strength of 4,800, needs 1,300 more. It also needs staff to handle an extra 40 immigration counters, up from more than 100 now.
Bengaluru’s Kempegowda international airport requires more than 1,000 CISF personnel to add to its current strength of over 2,600 as the airport expands operations at its recently opened Terminal 2. It also requires staff to handle over 10 immigration counters for a total strength of around 60, data showed.
Mumbai, the second busiest airport in India, needs staff for over 50 immigration counters and more than 150 more CISF staff, against the current strength of over 4,000. The state-run metro airport of Chennai is estimated to need over 500 CISF personnel.
Similarly, requirements in terms of nearly 400 CISF staff have also been identified at busy airports such as Srinagar and Jammu, which see heavy tourist traffic during the December quarter. Airports of Bagdogra and Indore have also started working towards deploying over 200 CISF personnel in addition to more than 500 CISF officers who now serve at these airports.
Currently, CISF is deployed at 66 airports to provide security. At the remaining airports, security is provided by state police personnel.
Earlier this month, the government said that security infrastructure, additional X-ray machines, check-in counters, and self-baggage drop facilities would be added at airports soon. As per the latest data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the domestic air traffic in the month of July- a non-peak month – stood at 12.1 million passengers, 1.6% higher than the pre-covid level seen in July 2019. According to estimates, passenger numbers are set to grow by double digits this year.
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Updated: 17 Aug 2023, 11:20 PM IST