BIAL, cops at loggerheads over airport police station

Differences crop up over location; Security holds up work

 While the police want the station to come up near the terminal building, the BIAL is citing security reasons for its reluctance.

The tug-of-war began ever since the operationalisation of the Bengaluru International Airport in 2008. According to the BIAL authorities, the police department did not bother to start the construction of the station near the trumpet flyover as planned earlier in spite of it paying Rs one crore to the Karnataka Police Housing Corporation for the purpose.
“We had paid Rs one crore before the operationalisation of the airport and asked the police to identify land near the trumpet flyover. But the request was turned down and they wanted to set up the police station near the terminal building. We simply could not agree to the proposal as the police station, which caters to local people, would draw hundreds of people putting the airport security at risk,” said highly placed sources in BIAL on the condition of anonymity.

The source said the BIAL had promised to provide Rs two crore for the construction of the police station.

Work begins

However, a couple of months ago, the BIAL went ahead with the construction of an outpost just diagonally opposite to the terminal building.

The step was necessitated as the airport depends on local police for matters pertaining to law and order.

“The outpost will be operational in about eight months and caters specifically to the security needs of the airport. After we started the work, the police have now decided to get back to the old plan of constructing a full-fledged police station near the trumpet flyover and we will release the balance of Rs one crore,” the source revealed.

However, the Police Department seems to have some problem with the idea of the outpost as it is of the opinion that the absence of a full-fledged police station will not serve any purpose.

“We know the place better than the BIAL officials and there was a reason behind asking them for a piece of land near the terminal building for the police station. We will assess the situation once they hand over the outpost to us,” said sources in the Police Department.