New Delhi, Apr 27 (PTI) Could the Kandahar plane hijack of 1999 have been prevented? What was the consequence of the 1985 bombing of an Air India plane that killed 329 people? Aviation security experts deliberated these issues, among others, at an event during the 37th Raising Day celebrations of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) here.
BCAS came into being on April 1, 1987, after a series of hijacks and air tragedies. The specialised body came up nearly two years after a bomb was planted on an Air India flight, named Emperor Kanishka, and it exploded at an altitude of 31,000 feet en route from Montreal to London, killing all 329 people on board.
Today, with an exponential growth of the India aviation sector and modern technology taking over the sky, experts feel that there is a need to constantly upgrade and enhance the safety network.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh, who was the chief guest at the event, cited the instance of the Kandahar hijack of 1999 to send across the message that decision making, along with technological advancement, is one of the major challenges during a crisis.
“If security is concerned, we need to look ahead. We need to work out what are the challenges that are going to come. As technology becomes more lethal and available to everybody, there are more and more chances of things going wrong,” General (retired) Singh said.
“Aviation sector has a problem of decision making too. Could Kandahar have been prevented? Could it have been dealt with differently? Could the media have done something differently than what it did at that time? There are many questions. In each incident, if you analyse, you will come to a conclusion that there was a major dilemma in decision making,” he added.
Union minister Singh suggested ways how to overcome the dilemma in decision making.
“In the future, we need to be cognizant of this factor because when you will be faced with a situation, at that time, it is difficult to then start working on things which will give you results. But if your mind is already working and if it is part of your thinking process, you will find a solution,” he said.
An Indian Airlines plane from Nepal to Delhi was hijacked and taken to Kandahar in 1999, before releasing the passengers in exchange of three terrorists who were jailed in India.
BCAS Director General Zulfiquar Hasan said that the hijacking of IC-814 on December 24, 1999 emerged as one of the biggest challenges for the organisation as the incident led to the release of three terrorists.
“And the consequence was the formation of a terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed which was behind the 2001 Parliament attack. There lies the necessity and the relevance of an organisation like BCAS which is indispensable in today’s age of modern challenge,” Hasan said.
He added, “No country can afford even the smallest lapse in aviation security. The cost to pay is unaffordable. That’s why BCAS was born to take steps to prevent all such happenings from recurring.” Hasan also said that security experts will deliberate on new age threats such as cyber hacking and suggest stringent standards. He also felt the need for Indian startups foraying into the aviation security sector.
“BCAS looks forward to encouraging Indian startups in aviation security. The time has also come to have India standard security like Europeans. In the next three years, we will have the most secured and technologically the most advanced airport,” he said.
Civil Aviation secretary Rajiv Bansal said that though the Indian aviation sector is the fastest growing in the world, yet skilled manpower to manage airports remains a big challenge.
“Be it screeners, security manpower in CISF or immigration manpower, we are short of skilled manpower to that extent. I request all the airports to augment training and skilling capacity. It is terrible if that becomes an impediment to our growth. We must move away from manpower to technology,” Bansal said.
He added that new technologies such as full body scanners, better X-ray machines like ultrasound machines, etc. are finding a visible presence at airports.
Laying emphasis on the use of drones in aviation, Bansal said the Civil Aviation Ministry is interested in the growth of the drone sector.
“How to use drones for security in the civil aviation sector is a challenge that we confront as we go ahead,” he said.
On this occasion, General (retired) Singh awarded 15 screeners, who sit on X-ray machines to scan baggage of air travellers, for their praiseworthy and tireless work. PTI JP SMN
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