October 21, 2024 - Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) director general RS Bhatti and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) director general Zulfiquar Hasan met with Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan today, October 21, to discuss the recent surge in hoax bomb calls to airlines. Yesterday, October 20, alone over 20 flights from IndiGo, Akasa Air and Vistara were impacted by bomb threats.

The Home Secretary was briefed on the recent wave of threats, which have generated widespread concern and prompted massive security inspections by Indian aviation authorities, intelligence agencies and other ministries. Sources says they had a detailed discussion on how these calls have disrupted airport operations, led to panic among passengers, and necessitated exhaustive security procedures by aviation authorities, intelligence agencies and other departments.

In view of the current situation, it was decided there was a need for more alertness and increased coordination between security agencies.

Meanwhile, the government is looking at amending the Civil Aviation rules and Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act (SUASCA), according to Union Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu. The aim is to give law enforcement agencies more authority to use it against miscreants who make these hoax bomb threats.

The Minister said, “From the Ministry, we have thought of some legislative action if it is required. We have come to the conclusion that there are two areas that we can explore - Amendment in Aircraft Security Rules...one of the ideas that we want to propagate by changing these rules is that once we catch hold of the perpetrator who is behind this, we want to put them in the no-flying list... and Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Civil Aviation Act.”

Source: Media Reports