Apart from entry pass, airport staff told to carry Aadhaar cards to work
NEW DELHI: Employees at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport will have to carry Aadhaar cards to work along with their entry pass from January 1. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is responsible for the security at the airport, has issued guidelines in this regard to improve the security arrangement at the airport.
Over 30,000 people work at the Delhi airport and are issued Airport Entry Pass (AEP) every year. Sources said, in view of the cases of forged AEPs the security agencies have asked the staff to carry Aadhaar cards as well.
“Since, almost every citizen now has an Aadhaar card, we will make it mandatory for them to carry it. Usually, we just check the airport pass but from now, our staff will ask for Aadhaar card also,” CISF DG OP Singh said.
The CISF is responsible for security at the airport while the Bureau for Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) frames security rules. Last year, the BCAS had changed the format of the pass issued to airport employees. Earlier, employees were given colour coded pass which were replaced with passes with alphabet codes. This year, the passes have been changed again and the size of employee photo has been increased.
“The photo size was small and that is why some cases of fake AEP were detected. We have asked that the size of the photo should be increased and it should be made mandatory to carry Aadhaar card with it,” a CISF official said.
The BCAS has divided the airport into 11 sections indentified by a different alphabet. Employees are issues passes according to the access allowed to them. The colour coded passes allowed access to a large area of the terminal.
According to BCAS, the airport complex is a cluster of buildings spread over several acres of land and the CISF has to ensure safety of both assets and people.
“Currently, employees entering the terminal building are physically checked by CISF. They are issued simple plastic ID cards to access secure areas in the buildings. We plan to later link it to biometric system along with the Aadhaar card number,” the official added.
The BCAS said, once linked to the biometric, doors and access points will be released only to authorized person after they have been identified by the system. The card will also contain every detail of the pass holder.