Extra security at airports a problem: MPs

NEW DELHI: Members in the Lok Sabha on Monday vented their ire against what they termed a security overkill at airports leading to passenger harassment and often loss of items confiscated as a safety precaution.
Raising the issue during Question Hour, members sought a response from civil aviation minister Shahnawaz Hussain on incidents of misconduct and high-handedness by CISF personnel now deployed on airport duty.
What is worse, the MPs said, is the kleptomaniac tendency of the securitymen. Very often items like safety pins, scissors and shaving blades, confiscated before boarding, are not returned.
Raising the issue, AIADMK member K Malaisamy complained he had recently lost a set of imported plates to such ‘greedy'' securitymen. He said a neutral agency should be appointed to check the effectiveness of the new arrangement. He asked how much extra expenditure it had cost the government to replace the state police with CISF at airports.

E Ahmed (IUML) said since the CISF men were not locals, speaking one''s own language became a problem. "Something must be wrong with the security guidelines; they took away a very small pair of scissors and when I asked for it on arrival they said it was not there," said Santosh Mohan Dev (Cong).
In his reply, the minister termed security checks at airports a thankless job and said the CISF had been deployed only after a review of the arrangement.

"The local policemen are busy saluting VIPs, ignoring security requirements," he said.