With high alert being sounded across the country in view of forthcoming Republic Day celebrations, security agencies have stepped up vigil at sensitive airports in the country entailing passengers to go through a second round of frisking and detailed scanning of their footwear and handbags.

At large and important airports like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad, passengers are being screened through multiple layers of CISF and airport security and a number of them are being asked to take out shoes and open hand baggages for a thorough checking. Airlines and special teams of the CISF and airport security have been asked to conduct risk-based Secondary Ladder Point Check (SLPC) which entails frisking passengers on the air side just before entering the aircraft.

The instructions have been issued keeping in mind the prevailing security situation and based on the assessment of Central security agencies. "While these measures are not new and there is nothing to panic, they are being deployed to add to the extra layer of security and ensure that nothing misses the eyes of the security personnel," a senior official involved in airport security said. "Armed Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs) of Central Industrial Security Force commandos and local police have been positioned at vantage locations around vital airports and leaves of jawans and officers are being regulated strictly so that maximum numbers are on ground at least till January 26 and in some cases even beyond that," they said.

Special anti-sabotage teams and bomb detection and disposal teams and sniffer dogs have been kept in readiness at these airports. The national capital will remain on high alert, sounded after the Pathankot attack, as the Centre has asked the Delhi Police to be prepared to foil any attempt by terrorists to carry out strikes in the city. Similar directives, sources said, have been issued by various other states too. There is a general alert to all sensitive and vital installations in view of the Pathankot attack and keeping in mind the new year and Republic day festivities.

"The security paraphernalia at places where there is large public interface is definitely more proactive than earlier keeping in mind there are no added hassles in their movement," they said.

Source : businesstoday

NEW DELHI: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has raised objections to the aviation ministry's proposal to allow airlines to carry out ground handling on their own, a plan that people in the know said was approved as part of the draft civil aviation policy despite the state-owned airport operator's opposition.

"We had said that allowing airlines to do ground handling themselves would go against the reasons for bringing in the Ground Handling Policy which has been cleared by the government in the past," said a senior AAI official, who did not want to be named. He said the policy's main aim was ensuring adequate security at the airports.

"The ministry is looking at it from the cost angle and not the safety angle," he said, referring to the new draft aviation policy that is expected to be cleared by the Cabinet by month-end.

"It (ministry) believes that allowing airlines to do ground handling would lead to cost savings for them." In 2007, the then government announced a Ground Handling Policy, which required airlines to outsource the job in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru to any of these three: airport operator along with a partner, an arm of national carrier Air India or a company selected by the operator. Elsewhere, they could manage ground handling on their own or hire agents.

The 2007 move was stayed after airlines went to court, saying it would make operations more expensive and take away their unique selling proposition of providing extra services to passengers.

The court has yet to give a final verdict on the matter. The aviation ministry's proposal to allow airlines do ground handling had earlier been red-flagged by the home ministry, which too raised security concerns.

An aviation ministry official, however, said: "The concern over security was addressed by bringing in a rule to mandate airlines to hire people only on long-term contract (minimum one year) for ground handling. They have also been asked to hire employees on their rolls and not on contract from outside agencies."

ET View: Open Up the Ground Too

The marginal utility of opening up ground handling services may be quite limited at all the airports, except two of the biggest ones. Going forward, it makes sense to quantify standards and benchmark costs for ground handling. But, if for security reasons the status quo needs to be maintained, so be it. We certainly need opening up when it comes to fuel supply, aircraft maintenance and the like, along with an 'open skies' policy for competitive supply of a host of aviation services. A staggered opening up of ground handling seems sensible.