MHA sanctions combined strength of over 2,800 CISF personnel for Navi Mumbai, Noida airports
NEW DELHI: The Centre has given its nod for a combined strength of over 2,800 CISF personnel to be deployed for security duties at soon-to-be operational international airports in Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddha Nagar district and in Maharashtra’s Navi Mumbai, officials said on Thursday.
They said that an order issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which administratively controls the Central Industrial Security Force (CIF), has sanctioned 1,840 posts for the Navi Mumbai Airport and 1,030 for the Noida International Airport (NIA).
The combined sanctioned manpower strength of the force, which will provide counter-terrorist cover to the two upcoming airports, would be 2,870, the officials said.
They added that the current sanction is for the first phase of operationalisation of the two airports and the same would be enhanced in due course with the completion of Phase II of these airports.
The security units at the airports, to be headed by Deputy Inspector General rank officers, will take charge once the infrastructure to install security gadgets and other logistics gets ready at both facilities, the officials said.
The Navi Mumbai International Airport project, which is being developed by the Adani Group, will be completed in five phases and will have a total handling capacity of 9 crore passengers per annum.
The first phase will have a capacity to handle 2 crore passengers per annum. Commercial operations at Navi Mumbai airport are expected to begin by March-April, 2025.
The NIA greenfield facility is being built in the Jewar area of Gautam Buddha Nagar district in Uttar Pradesh, about 75 km from Delhi, and will be the national capital region’s second international civil aviation facility after the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport. It is also expected to get operational for passenger operations by April next year.
The CISF is the national civil aviation security force that guards 68 airports at present. It provides a counter-terrorist cover to these facilities.