New Delhi: The government would consider a
proposal to create a dedicated Aviation Security Force (ASF)
in view of increasing terror threats to airports and other
aviation infrastructure.
The proposal is part of a series of recommendations made
by the UN-body International Civil Aviation Organisation
(ICAO) on restructuring the aviation security system,
including the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS),
official sources said here.
ICAO was commissioned by the government last year to
review the entire gamut of issues relating to aviation
security and recommend measures.
Its consultants carried out a special study on
restructuring BCAS administration, setting up of a dedicated
ASF for airports, design an operational framework for aviation
security, striking the right balance between security and
passenger facilitation, among other things.
The ICAO committee has recently submitted its report to
the Civil Aviation Ministry which would come up for
consideration soon, the sources said.
Currently, all airports are guarded by the Central
Industrial Security Force (CISF). It is administratively under
the Home Ministry but is guided by the BCAS, which at times
creates functional problems, they said.
Following certain "glaring lapses" observed during
security drills, the government decided to go ahead with a
comprehensive review of aviation and airport security,
including giving BCAS the powers to bite.
In January, an ICAO team conducted a security audit of
India's aviation sector under the Universal Security Audit
Programme and found India to be "one among the top few
countries which have complied with all the global standards in
aviation security in the aviation industry today".
PTI
First Published: Sunday, October 16, 2011, 11:11