CISF DG to meet NGOs to overcome issues faced by specially-abled flyers at airport
Nov 10, 2021
New Delhi [India], November 10 : To facilitate ease of air travel for specially-abled persons, the Director-General of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) MA Ganapathy and other stakeholders of airport security will hold a meeting with around 150 NGOs working for persons with disabilities (PwDs) on Thursday.
This comes after actor and dancer Sudha Chandran on October 23 shared her ordeal at the Delhi airport due to the 'grilling' that was conducted because of her prosthetic limb. Later, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has issued an apology on social media.
A senior official informed that the meeting will be held at CISF's headquarters in Delhi where around 15 NGOs will be physically present and the rest of the NGOs will connect virtually to give suggestions and understand the need for security checks at airports.
"We want to sensitise people that inconvenience caused during security check is not intentional but it is circumstantial and strictly as per security norms for the safety of passengers. The meeting will be attended by security heads of airports to make the security clearance procedure for PwDs standardize at all airports," said the official.
He said that after the year 2016 Somalia airport terror attack where a wheelchair-bound suicide bomber bypassed security check and detonated a bomb, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has formed Standing Operating Procedure (SOP) in terms of frisking of PwDs and it was applied to all airports in the country.
"The meeting will be joined by representatives of BCAS, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and security heads of all airports where they will tell give and take suggestions from NGOs to further modify and provide better facilities for the movement of PwDs at various airports," he added.
