Home Ministry set to take over Bureau of Civil Aviation Security
October 31 , 2017 2583 days 1072 0
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is set to move a proposal before the Cabinet Committee on Security for taking over the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), currently under the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA).
Ministry of Civil Aviation has showed its opposition to this Home Ministry's move.
The decision is based on a security audit conducted by a team of experts from the MHA, Intelligence Bureau, CISF and BCAS, which had recommended the change.
Bureau of Civil Aviation Security
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) is an agency of the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Its head office is located in New Delhi.
BCAS has four regional offices - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata.
BCAS is responsible for laying down standards, policies and measures with regard to security of all commercial flights.
It was set up as a cell in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in 1978, after an Indian Airlines flight was hijacked in September 1976.
After that BCAS was re organised as an independent department under the MoCA on April 1, 1987, as a follow-up to the Kanishka bombing in June 1985.
It is currently headed by a commissioner of security.
Multiple agencies working at airports, including the Intelligence Bureau, immigration officials, security personnel, local police, are bound by regulations passed by BCAS.