Airports owe a whopping Rs 4707.76 crore to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) for providing security with 16 joint venture facilities accounting for 64 per cent of the outstanding, according to a Parliamentary panel report.
The CISF is deployed in 66 airports – 50 controlled by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and 16 joint ventures in which private players and AAI are partners – across the country. Of this, 23 airports are hyper-sensitive and 38 are categorised as sensitive while five are ‘normal’.
The cost of deployment is paid by the joint venture or AAI and in 2019, the Ministry of Civil Aviation created ‘National Aviation Security Fee Trust’ (NASFT). The Trust was mandated to remit the money to CISF and since July 1, 2019, it has been centrally paying the money owed to CISF.
According to the details provided to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, 50 airports run by AAI owe Rs 1,667.07 crore to the CISF.
The joint venture airports alone owe Rs 3,040.68 crore or 64 per cent of the total dues as on November 2022.
“The committee notes the huge amount of outstanding dues which are payable to the CISF by the NASFT, especially the dues of the 16 joint venture airports and desires to know the reasons for the same,” the report ‘Development of Greenfield and Brownfield Airports and Issues Pertaining to Civil Enclaves in Defence Airports’ said.
Tabled on July 24, the report also expressed hope that the dues will be cleared at the earliest by NASFT to enable the CISF to provide foolproof security at airports through the deployment of enough manpower and the latest security gadgets at airports.
The panel also said the Association of Private Airport Operators told them that the security agencies need to adopt modern technologies and use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to upgrade their skills to meet future challenges and meet international standards.
Not only do immigration and security processes need to be reviewed, the APAO said, but technology should also be used to improve processing time. There should be more 3D X-Ray scanners and full body scanners, they said.
The panel urged the Ministry to look into the suggestions and ensure that the latest technologies are deployed at all airports for security as well as convenience of air passengers.