The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) on Thursday interacted with the representatives of leading NGOs of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) to address the problems of "Passengers with special needs" at airports.
The focus was the standardisation of the processes across all the airports under CISF security cover in dealing with PWDs, and to minimize the problems faced by them during pre-embarkation security checks at the airports, said the CISF.
The session on provisions of security checking of PWDs at airports was convened by Director General M. A. Ganapathy at CISF headquarters in which it was decided to constitute a committee of stakeholders at all airports with reference to the issues faced by PWDs, said the CISF.
The force in a statement said that "there will be an increased focus on training and sensitisation of the personnel handling the issues of the PWDs. A periodic review of the achieved targets and way forward will be done every six months by way of such combined interactions, on a virtual format."
The CISF chief assured the participants that "CISF is committed to address the issues related to the differently-abled passengers and all efforts are being made to ensure that they should not face any problem at the airports".
Detailed deliberations took place during the event regarding the extension of "Swarnim Sewa" at the other airports under CISF security cover, which would include the development of an app and a helpline number.
On December 3 last year, the force said, CISF Aviation Security Group Hyderabad, airport launched "Swarnim Sewa" wherein, CISF took the initiative to extend assistance to the passengers requiring special attention like senior citizens, specially-abled, expectant mothers.
The event was attended by P. S. Phalnikar, ADG (Airport Sector), other Senior Officers of CISF and ten representatives of leading NGOs.
The conference was also attended virtually through video conference by all 64 Chief Airport Security Officers (CASOs) of CISF, Officers of BCAS, MoCA and around 150 representatives of NGOs from across the country working for the rights of PWDs.
Through the NGOs, CISF also tried to establish communication with the end-users, explaining the security compulsions and best possible efforts being made by CISF at the airports to address the problems of the passengers with special needs.
The CISF said it is committed to making air travel a 'smooth and happy experience' and that the interaction session was aimed to further work-out issues in this domain.
The current security guidelines for frisking differently-abled passengers, their equipment like wheelchairs, prosthetics and others were brought in by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) following the 2016 Somalia blast where a wheelchair-bound passenger was suspected to have carried out a blast in the aircraft after evading security at the Mogadishu airport.
Based on the existing guidelines prescribed by BCAS for security checks of PWDs at the airports, a presentation was made to all the participating stakeholders as to what and how the CISF undertakes security checks of such passengers.
The representatives of NGOs were invited to share their experiences and put forth their expectations from the CISF Aviation Security Group, regarding the facilitation during security checks of specially-abled persons at the airports.
They were also encouraged to give suggestions, which would ease the process of security checks for PWDs.
( With inputs from ANI )
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