‘Build 5 police booths on T3 road’

To enhance security outside the Delhi airport, the Delhi Police have asked the airport operator to construct five booths at the approach road to Terminal 3. Faizan Haider reports.

To enhance security outside the Delhi airport, the Delhi Police have asked the airport operator to construct five booths at the approach road to Terminal 3. A three-member police team will man these booths.

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The police’s objective of setting up these booths is to intercept vehicles coming out of the airport. The booths will be constructed at the northern access and the old approach road.

“Our men will sit there and stop suspicious vehicles using pickets. At present, fleeing from the airport is very easy as there is no checking. Since the new link road is scheduled to open soon, we felt the need for these booths,” RA Sanjeev, DCP (airport) said.

The Delhi Police have also asked the private airport operator, Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL), to provide a glass front on the upper part of these booths. The police want them to be on the lines of the booths that had been constructed near the Games village for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

“We have received a request from Delhi Police and are in the process of constructing the booths,” said a DIAL source.

“The security on the city side is as important as that inside the airport. There are grey areas like the multi-level car parking, Aerocity, lanes outside the terminal and the tunnel leading to T3. We have already asked them to install CCTV cameras at the approach road,” Sanjeev added.

After conducting a security review of the airport, the Delhi Police have submitted a report to the Bureau for Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).

In the review, Delhi police have raised objections on checking done by private guards at the multi-level parking. “We have also suggested that two small porta-cabins should be provided at both sides of the tunnel for positioning of CISF guards,” Sanjeev said.

In its report, the police also claimed that airline staff and other employees are aware of the lack of security and often commit thefts in the areas where CCTV cameras have not been installed.

“Cargo terminal is another weak link in airport security. We have requested DIAL to install mobile X-ray inspection system for cargo vehicles,” said the police report.