here are chinks in the security of Delhi Metro – 160, to be precise – according to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
The CISF provides security cover at 149 stations of the Delhi Metro that sees a footfall of approximately 26 lakh passengers a day. According to senior CISF officials many access points between the unpaid and paid areas of the metro stations are ‘weak links’ from security point of view. With limited height of the Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) gates, there are many points where unchecked baggage can be handed over to passengers without these being scanned.
“We have identified 160 weak points and have taken up the issue with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). We are trying to manage these points through ‘Queue Managers’ at the moment,” Director General of CISF Surender Singh said in a press conference on Tuesday.
“We have asked DMRC to cordon off these areas and they have raised the heights at 14 places. However, there are some issues with the material that has been used and it has been questioned as we wanted more permanent material,” he said.
A DMRC spokesperson told The Hindu that consultation on the issue is on with CISF and the corporation will do the needful required for the security of passengers.
Mr. Singh said that CISF personnel deployed at Metro stations work under a lot of pressure due to the huge public interaction involved but the force works with a motto of ‘zero error’. He said that personnel deployed at stations have to wait for colleagues even for a few minutes of rest room break as leaving a post vacant even for that much time would result in long queues.
He also said that a large number of CCTV cameras have been installed at metro stations, feeds from which are constantly monitored and more would be installed soon.
Airport Security
Since October 27 last year, 62 unidentified flying objects have been observed around Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport that has left the authorities flummoxed.
Mr. Singh said that these include drones, balloons and kites and most of the times, it is difficult to make out what these are by the naked eye. He said that the government is going to come out with “operational guidelines” to tackle such cases as shooting down such objects cannot be a solution and could result in disastrous situations at an airport. He said that apart from CISF, other stakeholders like the Delhi Police and the Indian Air Force are also involved with issue.
Mr. Singh also said that 44 hoax calls were received at airports last year, out of which 13 were at the Delhi Airport.
This year, already eight such hoax calls have been received in Delhi alone, among a total number of 16 across the country.
“The number of calls is considerable but we take each one of them seriously. These are assumed genuine till proven otherwise,” Mr. Singh said.
He said that a proper procedure is followed each time with a Bomb Threat Committee that meets immediately to decide on the action to be taken.
