CISF to provide enhanced protective gear to troops when airports, Delhi Metro resume ops: DG

The CISF is "augmenting" COVID-19 protective gear and healthcare paraphernalia for its over 40,000 personnel who will begin having close physical interaction with lakhs of passengers once airports and the Delhi Metro re-start operations, a top official said.

The force has "spruced up" measures on anti-coronavirus protection for its troops after 11 of them in Mumbai tested positive for the viral infection that has claimed thousands of lives and infected about 10 lakh people globally.

These personnel are understood to have picked the pandemic infection from a trooper who was on duty of physical frisking and baggage screening at the Mumbai international airport.

"We are augmenting our resources in terms of better masks, gloves and sanitisation facilities. Security desks are being re-done to ensure proper distance between passengers and personnel without security protocols being compromised.

"We will have more robust logistics in place during the next round of operations at airports and Delhi Metro, whenever they begin," CISF Director General (DG) Rajesh Ranjan told PTI.

The CISF has 63 civil airports of the country under its security cover at present along with the Delhi Metro and they witness lakhs of passenger footfalls every day.

"We are confident that we will have much better equipment to handle the situation (in the coming days) at these two large public transport facilities where our personnel have a close physical interaction with passengers as well as other units," the force chief said.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) deploys about 32,000 personnel as part of its aviation security group (ASG) to guard airports and about 12,000 troops to protect the Delhi Metro which is the lifeline of national capital region including Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad.

The government has not announced as to when operations at these vital public transport facilities, shut till April 14 due to the ongoing nation-wide lockdown due to coronavirus, will resume.

A force spokesperson added that the ICICI Bank "has donated 16,000 masks and 10,000 gloves for CISF personnel deployed at the Delhi Metro."