Aizawl: The Centre has ordered the deployment of an armed security contingent of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the Lengpui airport in Mizoram.
The deployment of about 120 armed security personnel is aimed at providing counter-terrorist cover to Mizoram’s lone airport strategically located at Lengpui.
The force will take charge of the airport on April 24.
This will be the 69th airport under the counter-terrorist cover of the paramilitary, designated as the national civil aviation security force, and the first unit guarded by it in the northeastern state.
The lone table-top runway airport of the state is located about 35 km north of capital Aizawl in Mamit district. Built in February 1998, the airport is the first in the country to be constructed by a state government, according to the Airports Authority of India.
It is currently protected by a joint team of the state police and the CRPF, a senior CISF officer told a news agency.
It has flights connecting the state to Kolkata, Delhi, Guwahati and Silchar in Assam, and Imphal in Manipur by Indigo and Alliance Air planes.
“The ministry of home affairs issued an order in February this year asking the CISF to take complete charge of the strategically located airport following a threat assessment review by central intelligence agencies,” a senior security officer said.
The CISF has a special aviation security group (ASG) under its establishment that guards civil airports across the country as part of its charter to provide counter-terrorist and anti-sabotage cover to these facilities used by lakhs of domestic and international passengers daily.
ALSO READ: Mizoram gears up for crucial border talks with Assam
The force will control access and exit at the Lengpui facility, check departing passengers and their baggage and deploy vehicle-borne armed commandos as part of a quick reaction team (QRT) that responds in case of threat or attacks.
