From a layperson’s point of view, our airports seem to be under a heavy cloak of security, but a closer look will reveal that five of Maharashtra’s most sensitive airports, including Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), are at risk because of an alarmingly lax approach to security.
A mid-day investigation of highly censored documents from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) suggests these five airports – namely CSIA, Juhu Airport in Mumbai, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport (BAIA) in Nagpur, Birsi Airport in Gondia and Chikalthana Airport in Aurangabad – are vulnerable to external and internal threats as a result of a lack of alertness in intelligence agencies, poor contract management of vital security projects, inadequate equipment for security forces, and a whole host of other reasons. Such lapses are particularly worrying in these five airports because of two major reasons. One, all five are considered sensitive – CSIA and Juhu Airport are located in the state capital, while the remaining three are vulnerable due to the proximity of Naxal presence. The second factor is that in 2013, an alert was raised when security agencies received intelligence about terrorist plans to attack any one of 24 airports in Maharashtra (that are either inactive or less active), hijack and load a light aircraft with explosives and use it to launch an air strike.
26/02/15 Sharad Vyas/Mid Day
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A mid-day investigation of highly censored documents from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) suggests these five airports – namely CSIA, Juhu Airport in Mumbai, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport (BAIA) in Nagpur, Birsi Airport in Gondia and Chikalthana Airport in Aurangabad – are vulnerable to external and internal threats as a result of a lack of alertness in intelligence agencies, poor contract management of vital security projects, inadequate equipment for security forces, and a whole host of other reasons. Such lapses are particularly worrying in these five airports because of two major reasons. One, all five are considered sensitive – CSIA and Juhu Airport are located in the state capital, while the remaining three are vulnerable due to the proximity of Naxal presence. The second factor is that in 2013, an alert was raised when security agencies received intelligence about terrorist plans to attack any one of 24 airports in Maharashtra (that are either inactive or less active), hijack and load a light aircraft with explosives and use it to launch an air strike.
26/02/15 Sharad Vyas/Mid Day
