NewDelhi.1 April 2016. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security(BCAS)  reiterated its commitment to build a strong and secure architecture for aviation security. An agency of the Ministry of Civil Aviation of India, BCAS turned 29 recently.  Established after the hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight in September 1976, the Pande Committee recommended establishing an aviation security department, the BCAS was established as a department of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

As a result of the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182, on 1 April 1987 the BCAS became an independent agency of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, with its head office in New Delhi. The agency has four regional offices, located at Indira Gandhi Airport in Delhi, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, Chennai International Airport in Chennai, and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata.

Rajiv Nayan Choubey, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, speaking at the raising day of the bureau, said that this security should co-opt all players active in the various civil aviation operations and should have a strong audit oversight. He also highlighted the need of striking a balance between the imperatives of growth and those of aviation security.

He also said that the stress would be on building cost effective aircraft centric security rather than airport centric security. Adding to his speech, he also stated that there is a need for rapidly developing technology to stay ahead of disruptive elements.

BB Dash, Joint commissioner of Security, BCAS, who was also present at the event, informed that India is now globally at the forefront in aviation security. Under the Universal Security Audit Program, International Civil Aviation Orgnisation (ICAO) conducts audit of different member countries every four years.

The world average for the three parameters used, (i) Effective implementation of eight Critical Elements, (ii) Average compliance with Annex 17 standards and (iii) Protocol Question indicator stands in the range of 66 – 70 %. In the recently concluded ICAO audit of Indian aviation security from 5 to 9 October, 2015, the above parameters stand at 99.23 %, 99.59 % and 98.95 % respectively. While getting into the details, discussed about the threats and challenges that are being faced by the aviation security agencies.