The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Aviation security summit begins

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Saturday, Mar 26, 2011
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Aviation security summit begins

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Introduction of body scanners and other advanced equipment at airports is the only way to reduce the long delays in clearing traffic and improve the abysmally-low levels of passenger satisfaction, said V.P. Agrawal, Chairman, Airports Authority of India (AAI).

At a two-day GMR Aviation Security Summit 2011 that started here on Friday, he said that the proposal however faced resistance with passengers expressing concerns over intrusion of their privacy.

In view of the security aspects, AAI was forced to take up as many checks as it was felt necessary, a situation that could only be improved with technology. Hence it would continue its endeavour to change the mindset of air travellers, he said.

Mr. Agrawal said that in view of the surcharged security environment in India, with threats to the civil aviation sector from terrorist outfits, it was imperative to balance growth with security, both of which were complementary to each other. India had effectively averted any hijack since 1993 and any major sabotage incident since the 1980s at any airport.

Security of airports

While security at 52 of the 76 airports was handled by the Central Industrial Security Force, the remaining 24 were manned by the respective State police, he said.

There was a needed to equalise the level of security preparedness at airports across the country, whether it was in a city or those in Tier-II and III towns, Mr. Agrawal said, explaining that terrorists could target any airport. Aviation being a soft target and with aircraft considered to be National symbols and with targets including persons with a high profile and of different nationalities, militants perceived that such acts brought their cause into prominence.

Concerns that needed to be addressed were organisational mis-match between stakeholders and lack of coordination, poor research and analysis and rigidity of regulations leading to focus on mandatory compliance instead of robust threat assessment or mitigation strategies. With security not being in-built in airport design, it poses difficulty in re-design and change of layout.

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