To secure the premises of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, an Israeli agency has been roped in to rectify glitches encountered by the perimeter intrusion detection system (PIDS).
The highly-sophisticated system to detect movement of individuals and vehicles at the airport premises had started giving false intrusion signals during the course of its trial run. The security apparatus armed with thermal-imaging cameras, video-recorders and radars was installed by Delhi International Airport limited (DIAl) last year after the demands raised by the security agencies.
The apparatus to secure the airport premises was installed last year by the Delhi Airport operator and was handed over to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) post the trial run by the conclusion of last year. The CISF however, refused to use the system as it encountered glitches and started giving false signals. Airport sources inform that after the complaints raised by CISF, DIAl has roped in an Israeli company to rectify the glitches encountered by the security system. “The agency has taken up the task to resolve the snags encountered by the security apparatus. The will then be handed over to CISF,” said the airport official.
The main problem with the system is that it issues false intrusion signals. CISF officials said that due to the glitch, the control room registers around a thousand false signals everyday. “The system issues intrusion alert even if a bird crosses the periphery, during the strong windy conditions or even when out staff conducts patrolling around the periphery. Apart from this, there remain several corners where there is no ample provision for lighting and even several cameras are not functioning. Due to this, the system is unable to capture the images of the intruding objects during night time,” said a CISF official.
Not just this, the PIDS system has just been installed around 27 km of the perimeter wall of the Delhi Airport’s total perimeter wall of 36 km. Due to this, the much-hyped system to secure the premises of the IGI Airport only covers a part of it. DIAl on the other hand played down the snags encountered by the system by saying that such reports have come to light due to the sensitivity of the matter. The task to monitor the intrusion by the system is handed over to CISF, which is not relying on the system currently.