Hijack threat to Indian airports

New Delhi, Dec 28: Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) heightened the security at all airports across the nation following intelligence alerts that terrorists are planning to hijack a plane or abandoned airstrips for aerial attack.

Union Civil Aviation Ministry has also alerted all the states and Union Territories (UTs) over proper security of non-functional airports. After Civil Aviation Secretary M Madhavan Nambiar wrote to all states and UTs to secure all airports under their jurisdiction, the airports are placed under high alert.

In India there are about 340 airports and airstrips, many of them non-functional. A large number of these airstrips are of World War II vintage. Otherthan securing the airports the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) have also issued order for deployment of additional personal and hand-baggage checking before a passenger boards an aircraft.

Directions are also given to strengthen sky marshals and put them on more flights. With the Lok Sabha polls approaching DGCA is also planning to issue a new set of security guidlines for helicopter operators, like reporting to the local police before making landings at any unscheduled place.

It has also sought security from either the state police forces or central paramilitary forces at all helipads, including the make-shift ones. After the horrifying Mumbai
terror attacks of Nov 26, the Civil Aviation ministry, DGCA, CISF, Indian Air Force, BCAS and other related agencies have been assessing the threat perceptions on a regular basis and were taking necessary measures.

OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)