No compromise on airport security: CISF DG after Kozhikode clash

New Delhi: CISF will not let the June 10 clash between its personnel and those of AAI at the Kozhikode airport affect regular discharge of its duties at such sensitive facilities, the chief of the force has said.

CISF Director General Surender Singh, who took charge of the paramilitary force last month, said while the incident is being thoroughly investigated, instructions have been issued reiterating that the security protocols and apparatus at all airports under its umbrella, including at Kozhikode, should not be allowed to "slacken" in view of the incident. "It is definitely an incident which we have taken note of. But the years of good work done by the force cannot be done away with this one incident. While a police and CISF inquiry is on, we have again issued instructions to our men and women posted at these facilities that they should not slacken in their task and do it diligently.

"We have also told our personnel to increasingly render their duties with a smile and in a courteous manner. But there can be no compromise on security," Singh told PTI. The DG added that steps have been taken to ensure that there is no repeat of such incidents anywhere in the country. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), at present, is tasked with securing 59 civil airports in the country.

Ten Airports Authority of India (AAI) staff and 13 CISF personnel have so far been arrested in connection with the violent incident at Kozhikode airport, also recognised as the Karipur airport, after a dispute erupted on giving security clearance to AAI staff which resulted in the death of a CISF jawan after the service revolver of his senior officer, a sub-inspector, went off accidentally in the melee. The DG also denied that the force has issued large number of transfer orders of the CISF unit deployed at this international airport in the wake of the incident.

"Our personnel have joined the investigation that is being conducted by the local police. I don't think we have issued any mass transfer orders in the wake of this incident," he said at the force's headquarters here. Calling the incident "unfortunate", the CISF boss said the evidence of the brawl on the night of June 10 suggests that the on-duty CISF officer was surrounded by a number of people after he and an AAI official are reported to have picked up a fight over frisking.

"All that is subject matter of the ongoing inquiry," he said. The incident soon took an ugly turn and the airport had to be shut down temporarily after the employees resorted to violence and flights had to be diverted to Nedumbassery airport in Kochi on that night and operations at Kozhikode airport could only resume the next day.

DG Singh said he had met his counterparts in the Civil Aviation Ministry and the AAI and that all the stakeholders have pledged to continue doing their job with greater efficiency and diligence.