No extra security at KIA despite M'luru scare

The detection of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at the Mangaluru airport hasn’t led to any extra security arrangements at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).

It seemed to business as usual at the KIA as neither the police nor the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), who guard the terminal and have four bunkers outside, had any weapon detector or luggage scanners. There were no random checks of passengers before they enter the terminal.

The focus seems to be on the 90-second time limit set for vehicles which come to drop or pick up passengers. The private security only ensures that vehicles adhere to the time limit, failing which vehicle owners are fined. Otherwise, there is no checking of baggage using weapon detectors or dog squad.

As things stood on Tuesday, anyone could still walk up to the departure or arrival terminal and come back. This reporter was at the KIA for more than three hours on Tuesday but did not see police or CISF officials checking anybody outside the terminal.

A senior police officer from the CISF said there were nearly 300 CISF personnel at the airport. “We mainly take care of the security at the entrance and exit of the terminal and check passengers’ luggage,” he said.

“There are CISF men with firearms in the kiosk and a couple of them at the VVIP vehicle entrance. We ensure tight security all the time. Due to the Republic Day, we are on extra caution,” he said.

A KSRP platoon of 23 reserve police was stationed at the KIA; it was a routine deployment.

An Assistant sub-inspector from the Tumakuru district reserve police said they had just arrived from Tumakuru on Tuesday. “One reserve police platoon will be stationed at the airport all the time and it’s done on rotation from nearby districts,” he said.

Jayanagar MLA Sowmya Reddy, who had come to the airport to receive Congress women’s wing chief, wanted to know as to why the home minister was not keen on scaling up security.

However, Bheemashankar S Guled, DCP (Northeast), said the police were conducting random checks of vehicles at the entry gates and the reserve police were also deployed to monitor the security.