Amit Shah inaugurates Aviation Security Control Centre for airports

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday inaugurated the newly established Aviation Security Control Centre (ASCC) at CISF Campus Mahipalpur.

DG CISF Sheel Vardhan Singh, Tapan Kumar Deka, Director, IB, Zulfiquar Hasan, Director General BCAS, and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.

The CISF was inducted at airports for the first time in February 2000. After two decades, currently, CISF is providing security cover to 66 airports out of 134 operational airports in the country, including extremely busy and hypersensitive airports like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Jammu, Srinagar, and Amritsar.

In order to monitor the security functions and resource utilization on a real-time basis, Security Operations Control Centres (SOCCs) are functional at every airport.

These SOCCs serve as the nerve/nodal center for the collection and dissemination of important information 24x7, especially during contingencies.

Over time, due to increased air traffic and passenger load, the current security scenario, evolving nature of threat perceptions, and geographical spread of airports across the country, there was a need for centralised monitoring of events occurring at airports to resolve them in real-time.

To fulfill the aforesaid requirement, CISF has established a modern state-of-the-art centralized Aviation Security Control Centre, integrating the SOCCs of all 66 airports.

The control center is also equipped with cutting-edge technologies like a data center, R&D Lab, and War room.

The CISF informed about the salient features, which include 24x7 real-time data monitoring and trend analysis of passengers and air traffic.

“This facility will provide realistic input about passenger traffic at a given point in time and help in mobilizing the resources for optimum utilization. Some of the aspects covered are bomb threat calls, VVIP movement highlights, major incidents, passenger clearance time, utilization of security gadgets, and queue management system,” CISF said.

All the 66 airports are now connected through VPN and IP telephonic systems and can be accessed at any point in time by the senior officers during any contingent situation.

“It will also perform trend analysis of real-time data to enhance the effectiveness of decision-making at higher levels. Research will be done on advanced and AI-based aviation security equipment available worldwide, comparative analysis of different equipment, and its applicability at Indian airports. Another salient feature is the resolution of social media feedback by monitoring popular social sites,” CISF said.

This newly established ASCC will play an important role in its quest to play a greater role in aviation security and the future of the force.