Amid spurt in the movement of air passengers at the Tiruchi International Airport, the number of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel guarding the airport is poised to increase.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI), New Delhi, has approved the recommendation for enhancing the strength of CISF personnel at the non-metro Tiruchi airport where movement of overseas travellers outnumber domestic passengers.
Various aspects have been taken into account by the AAI for enhancing the strength of CISF personnel, who are entrusted with the task of guarding the airport round-the-clock.
The enhancement of strength has been approved after conducting a resurvey, airport authorities said.
With the Airports Authority of India approval for increase in CISF strength, the Union Home Ministry will look into the issue and take a final decision, say the authorities.
Tiruchi is ranked second in Tamil Nadu, next only to Chennai international airport, in handling more overseas passengers.
The authorities say the CISF strength at the Tiruchi airport is a little over 290 at present, with the security personnel working in shifts to guard vital areas within the sprawling airport premises. The authorities expect the rise in CISF manpower strength at Tiruchi airport to be a little over 500.
Parameters
The authorities say there are some parameters for enhancing the security strength. There is a parameter for handling one lakh passengers and another for handling passengers in the range from one lakh to 10 lakh per month and those beyond 10 lakh passengers.
Tiruchi international airport, with daily overseas flights to Colombo, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai and Sharjah falls in the category in which the overall passengers handled ranges from one lakh to 10 lakh per month.
Five overseas carriers — Sri Lankan Airlines, Scoot, Malindo, Air Asia and Air India Express operate daily flights from here. In the recent months, domestic traffic has also seen an upswing thanks to the introduction of flight service in the Tiruchi - Mumbai — New Delhi sector.
Rise in passenger traffic
The need for augmenting strength has been felt owing to steady rise in the number of overseas services since 2009 when the last resurvey was done at the Tiruchi airport.
The international aircraft movement at Tiruchi airport during 2017-18 financial year was 10,073 as against 8,736 in 2016-17 fiscal according to AAI statistics. The airport handled over 15 lakh passengers, both international and domestic, during the 2017-18 financial year.
The authorities say it will, however, take some time for enhancement of strength as a lot of issues would have to be planned including logistics and increasing accommodation facilities.
