The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Security measures seem to have been relaxed

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Sunday, Dec 28, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Security measures seem to have been relaxed

S. Vijay Kumar

At airport, a section of passengers feel security measures should be strengthened

Chennai: The heightened security measures taken close on the heels of the Mumbai terror attack have been relaxed. But is there a corresponding scale-down in the threat level? No, say sources in the intelligence agencies though there is not much of immediate or specific threat perception emanating from any agency.

The number of gun-toting commandos in areas of public gathering, particularly at railway stations, airports and bus stands has considerably come down. Baggage is not frisked at railway stations or bus stands. However, door-frame metal detectors installed at entry points at some stations remain and they beep almost every time a passenger walks through.

At the Chennai Airport, a section of passengers feel security measures should be strengthened as entry is allowed with just a ticket. “You can enter the airport with a ticket, which can also be a fake one, with baggage. While x-ray scanning is done for registered baggage, hand baggage is checked only at the boarding area. There is no checking at the entry point,” says a passenger.

When contacted, a senior official of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) admitted that there was no checking of baggage at the entry point.

“Whenever a red alert is sounded, we check some baggage at random. When it comes to screening of baggage, there are two agencies involved. While the respective airlines check registered baggage, the CISF personnel screen hand baggage.”

Unlike at the Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai airports where there is inline baggage system that provides for subjecting baggage to three different checks, in Chennai any passenger or imposter can possibly take a baggage without undergoing a check till the boarding area.

“We (the CISF) only implement the security guidelines laid down by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security,” the official added.

Vigil still on

According to the Railway Police, though visible security was downsized, many plainclothesmen drawn from the Government Railway Police and Railway Protection Force were deployed at vantage points to keep tabs on suspicious persons.

However, they agree that wayside stations and unscheduled stops remained risky areas as there was hardly any security measure taken there.

The Chennai police say that night rounds and intensive vehicle checking were continuing.

Manpower at checkposts was strengthened and private organisations were told to step up their security system as a permanent measure by installing surveillance cameras and deploying trained guards, said the Chennai police.

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