Despite intel inputs of likely terror threat, police report reveals there are no CCTV cameras outside airport
It's a sensitive zone. And yet, Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport doesn't have a single closed circuit television (CCTV) camera anywhere outside the airport premises.
This has been revealed in a recent police report.
This is the case not only around entrances to the airport, parking areas and booking offices around it,
even the 5.9-sq-km perimeter of the air strip that lacks a CCTV camera.
NO ONE'S WATCHING! The police report reveals that there are no
CCTV cameras to capture the passengers in the foyer outside booking
offices at the airport. PIC/BIPIN KOKATE
These startling revelations have come at a time when there are dozens of intelligence inputs that hint at possible terror attacks that could cripple the city airport. Also, there have been reports of bomb-laden vehicles barging into the airport.
A survey has indicated that there are no CCTVs covering areas up to the Western Express Highway, including the cluster of luxury hotels a few hundred metres from the terminals.
The parking lots too are not covered, and are, therefore, vulnerable to attacks.
There are no cameras to scan the highly sensitive Jari Mari area. The patch of slums in this vicinity is separated by about 100 m from the airstrip and aircraft.
Besides, there are no CCTVs surrounding the cargo complex.
What is even more glaring is that there are no cameras to capture passengers in the foyer outside booking offices. The road abutting the entrance and departure also do not have cameras.
"I have written to the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) about security lapses due to lack of CCTVs in and around the airport," Deputy Commissioner of Police Satyanarayan Choudhary, under whose jurisdiction the airport falls, told MiD DAY. "Action is still to be initiated."
No action yet
In May 2009, after more than 145 kg of gold and silver were looted, former Joint Commissioner of Police (law & order) K L Prasad had approached MIAL, requesting it to install CCTVs along all roads leading to the airport.
The robbery case is still to be solved.
The police had requested that cameras be installed to capture all movements inside and outside the terminals to prevent crime and prevent terror attacks.
Officials were hopeful that the camera would also keep a prying eye on activities of underworld gangs flexing muscles to corner a lion's share of the income from the airport.
An estimated 5 lakh tonnes of cargo and millions of passengers use the Mumbai airport's two termini on a daily basis. There are more than 2,000 CISF personnel posted inside the airport, but they can do very little without CCTV inputs, said sources.
| The Other Side | | "We have plans to install CCTV cameras at the domestic and international terminals," said spokesperson for MIAL, Manish Kalghatgi. | | 
