Safety issues clip airport's wings

SURAT: In a hurry to present Surat its much-awaited 'gift' of a functional airport, it has come to light that the security there has been compromised. According to sources, the state government has 'cut down' on staff on airport security duty due to manpower crunch.
Even as a proposal sent by Surat police commissioner is gathering dust at state headquarters in Gandhinagar, a police inspector, nine subordinates and 18 State Reserve Police jawans are holding the fort which, according to insiders, is easy to break in.Importantly, in the proposal, stress is laid on providing manpower 'immediately' since the airport's security is a sensitive issue.
Surat police has asked for at least three police inspectors and support staff which will include police sub-inspectors, constables and SRP jawans to man the installation round the clock. The officials, according to the proposal, would be divided into three shifts.
Police commissioner RMS Brar said the proposal was sent after it was certain that services would start.
"We have categorically requested the DG office to provide us the manpower as soon as possible. In case of recruitment of fresh employees, it would take longer and in case of airport security we would not like to take any chance. That is why we have requested the seniors to provide us trained manpower so that we can deploy them right now." "Right now there is only one flight and the passenger flow would be low. But once other companies start their services and number of passengers would increase, it would be difficult for us to manage the situation with the present set-up. A little mistake could result in a major incident as far as airport security is concerned," said Brar.