New Delhi: Amid growing bomb threats to flights in the country, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) of India on Wednesday held a high-level meeting to review security measures and take necessary actions. The meeting was attended by the civil aviation ministry authorities and other senior officials.
The meeting discussed boosting security at the country’s airports, stepping up surveillance of aircraft, and ensuring the passengers’ safety. A lost of stress was put on specific measures to address potential threats to prevent disruption to passenger movement or flight operations. Besides MoCA, security agencies also took part in the meeting to keep air travel safe and secure.
Of late, several flights in the country have faced disruptions due to bomb threats, which has raised security concerns.
DGCA to submit report to aviation secretary
According to sources, based on inputs received from airlines, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will submit its detailed report to the aviation secretary. The report will be taken up for discussion on Thursday afternoon. Notably, reports of all recent bomb threat incidents are being sent daily to the civil aviation minister. It is noteworthy that regarding the bomb threats, Minister of Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu also held a meeting on Monday with Civil Aviation Bureau and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officials as well as other authorities who are involved in airport security.
Sources said the Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation has provided detailed information to the parliamentary panel regarding the bomb threat issues, pointing out that the suspects have been identified and action is being taken against them.
It was a sheer coincidence that while the high-level meeting was taking place in Delhi, an Akasa Airlines flight bound for Bengaluru was forced to return to the capital after receiving a bomb threat. Sources said that over 180 people were on board flight QP1335. After the bomb threat, the aircraft landed safely at Delhi Airport. A number of similar incidents have occurred in the recent past prompting emergency landings of flights. Most of the bomb threats were made via social media platforms.