-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Goa - 2005 Santosh Trophy Champions | | | | Support Soccer Activities at the grassroots in our villages | | Vacationing in Goa this year-end - Carry and distribute Soccer Balls | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Surging air traffic weighs on security in India Reuters
New Delhi, December 10: India's airports are leading targets for militant attacks and a surge in air traffic spurred by new, low-cost airlines has added enormous pressure on security forces guarding them, a senior official said on Friday. The Central Industrial Security Force, a federal agency responsible for airport security, received on average one serious intelligence alert a month, CISF officials said. "The threat to the airports is real. It's not imaginary," CISF Director-General S.I.S. Ahmed told Reuters in an interview. Although CISF troops were geared to deal with militant threats, Ahmed said a massive increase in air traffic was stretching his agency, which guards 51 of India's main airports. This growth, he said, should be matched with better infrastructure at airports. "In some airports, when two or three flights come, the security holding area is not adequate, putting a lot of pressure on us because the screening facilities will not be adequate in some places," he said. Indian airports handled nearly 60 million passengers in 2004/05, compared with 40 million a year earlier. India, Asia's third-largest economy, is trying to revamp or privatize shabby, overburdened state-run airports to keep pace with the increase in passengers, but reform has been slow. The air travel industry is estimated to need $50 billion in investment in planes and infrastructure over the next decade to cope with demand, India's aviation minister said last month. "OPEN FIRE" India is faced with long-running insurgencies in disputed Kashmir and its troubled northeast. Militant groups operating in these areas have in the past been suspected of planning to attack airports or hijack planes. Last month, CISF was alerted to a man suspected of trying to befriend an employee at one of the 15 airports categorized as "highly sensitive" to help hijack a plane, a CISF official said. The alert followed triple blasts in the Indian capital on Oct. 29 that killed 66 people. The official said security was stepped up at all 15 airports, including those in Delhi and Mumbai, after the bombs. Security measures at Indian airports were revamped in 2000 after Islamist rebels, fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, hijacked an Indian Airlines plane flying from Kathmandu to Delhi in late 1999. The Christmas Eve hijacking ended in the Afghan town of Kandahar with India releasing three top militants in exchange for the passengers and crew. CISF, which was made responsible for airport security after the hijack, now profiles every passenger, both openly and covertly, Ahmed said. "We have quick reaction teams inside who are supposed to take a split-second decision depending on the situation," he said when asked if troops could open fire inside airports. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * G * O * A * N * E * T *** C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S * ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Spread the Christmas cheer - even when you're not here! Send Christmas Greetings to your loved ones in Goa. 2005 Christmas Package - Flowers, Bubbles and Layers of Love. http://www.goa-world.com/expressions/xmas/ -----------------------------------------------------------------------
