A lack of manpower has put the security at Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport at risk. Several employees are being given jobs that they are not cut out to do, based on short-term training.
This is not only getting in the way of security operations running smoothly but the passengers are suffering as well.
Airport authorities, however, said that process to hire more manpower was underway and that crisis will be resolved shortly.
Every airport in the world has two kinds of security- physical and aviation. The airport premises, runway, operation tower, radar station, marker, VOR, localiser and glide-paths are some of the things that are covered by physical security.
Meanwhile, frisking the passengers, luggage and cargo checks, screening and flight safety amongst many other things falls under aviation security.
Sources say that Airport Armed Police Battalion (AAPBN) is responsible for the physical security at Shahjalal and the Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB) take care of aviation security.
Around 600 people are deployed 24 hours to maintain security at the domestic and international terminals. Among them 350 are CAAB staffers and the rest are from air force, police and Ansar.
Sources say that the many forces in charge of security have no formal training on aviation security and some return to their own forces after receiving training from CAAB.
International code dictates that a scanning machine operator has to take a 40-minute break after every 20 minutes. Lack of manpower has not made it plausible. Not only that, the rule of each scanner having two employees isn’t being followed other.
Moreover, there are allegations that the security members are distracted with speaking on phones, reading newspapers or doing something or the other while on the job.
Direct air cargo delivery to the United Kingdom from Dhaka was held up for quite a while due to lack of security. After that, Redline Assured Security was formally appointed for security management, training and consultancy with over Tk 700 million. Only then was the embargo lifted in 2018.
Shahjalal Aviation Security Operations Director Nur E Alam Siddiqui said that the manpower crisis would be resolved once the new civil aviation organogram is implemented.
“Sixty-two people will be hired next week after their training ends,” he said.
Claiming that security was in no way compromised despite manpower shortage, he added, “Last year AIKA audited us from Nov 25 to Dec 4 and we scored 89.76 percent accuracy.”
He said that it wouldn’t have been possible if the security measures didn’t meet international standards.