Airports that are not hyper-sensitive could soon see the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) replaced by the state police personnel. The civil aviation ministry is planning to replace the CISF by state police at 47 airports barring those that are hyper sensitive,which includes the metro airports of New Delhi,Mumbai Kolkata,Chennai Bangalore and Hyderabad,airports in the north east and Jammu & Kashmir. The CISF currently manages security at 59 airports across the country. The proposal,being discussed,is a part of the plan to change the standard operating procedure being followed at the airports in India and also includes doing away with the cabin baggage tag. Barring those 10 to 12 airports in the country that are hyper-sensitive,we are planning to give the security of the rest of the airport to the state police. This will lead to huge savings,as the cost of CISF is double that of the state police, said a senior ministry official. The official added that there will not be any compromise on security,as these airports were always managed by the state police and only after the Indian Airlines flight,IC-814,was hijacked in 1999 did the CISF step in. The shift to state police will also help in reducing the fares marginally,as the payment for security is collected from passengers through a passenger services fee that ranges between Rs 150 to Rs 250 per ticket.
