Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh airports to get CISF cover with 800 troops

New Delhi: Airports in the newly created Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will soon have a new armed security cover of the CISF as the Centre has sanctioned about 800 personnel for the three civilian air facilities, official sources said on Monday.

The sources in the security establishment said that Jammu airport will be the first to be handed over to the Central Industrial Security Force, as soon as by next month, by the CRPF.

CISF, with about 1.6 lakh personnel, was first tasked with the security of airports in the aftermath of the 1999 hijack of an Indian Airlines aircraft. The federal force now guards 61 of the operational about 100 civil airports across the country.

"A manpower of about 800 CISF personnel has been approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs to guard the civil airports in Jammu, Srinagar and Leh. The airports of Jammu and Srinagar are categorised as hyper-sensitive while that in Leh is sensitive considering its strategic location," a senior official said.