CISF staff gets training to tackle unruly fliers at Mumbai airport
The 10-day training has been organised by the Mumbai International Airport Limited
The Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport witnesses passenger traffic of around 1,50,000 fliers daily. Out of which, nearly 10 to 15% passengers either misbehave or enter into a scuffle with the security staff.
To tackle unruly fliers, airport operator Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) organised a 10-day workshop for Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is responsible for the airport’s security.
The first phase of the training, which began on March 19, aims at improving the airport’s global and national ratings for passenger service and convenience.
CISF organises a mandatory training for its security personnel, of which two days are reserved for soft skills training. This is for the first time the airport operator has organised a training session for the security staff.
“By training our staff in ways to effectively deal with passengers using their soft skills, we aim to upgrade ourselves towards passenger facilitation,” KN Tripathy, deputy inspector general, CISF, International Airport.
CISF said passengers get into tiff with their staff, with respect to following security instructions or paper work.
The purpose of this training is to prevent such tiffs from turning into scuffles.
An MIAL spokesperson said, “MIAL recognises the significant role CISF plays in creating overall positive airport experience. Hence, this training initiative aims at moving the most important pax touch point from good to great.”
Shreya Shukla, a member of the security staff who attended the training, said: “We face major issues while handling passengers at airports. While some create issues when asked to show an original identity proof rather than a photocopy, some others question if they are asked to open their baggage as part of random checks.”
Asha Moun, a Mumbai-based CISF staff who is posted in the airport terminal building, added: “We have 12-hour duty and experience rude and problematic passengers every hour. On an average, there are around three problematic women passengers to deal with. Passengers question us and also get aggressive if we ask them to remove a prohibitory item they are carrying. Also, they object if we ask them to open their baggage for random checks.”
“Many passengers seem to have less knowledge of the dos and don'ts while flying, which is one of the major reasons why we see a high numbers of such disputes,” a senior CISF official added.