Airports across country owe CISF Rs 970 crore, Delhi's dues form major chunk

New Delhi: Dues amounting to about Rs 970 crore are pending against various airports in the country in lieu of providing CISF security to them, a top official of the paramilitary force said on Monday.

CISF Director General (DG) Rajesh Ranjan told reporters during an interaction here that while an amount of Rs 880 crore is pending against 'joint venture' airports or the privately-run facilities, about Rs 90 crore is due against those airports which are operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Out of the Rs 880 crore amount, the maximum Rs 788 crore is pending against the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the national capital, run by the DIAL (Delhi International Airport Limited), he said.

"We have communicated this to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Home Affairs as they are the expert ministries to figure out (the solution)," the DG said.

Ranjan added that any call on withdrawal of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) from these airports, owing to the dues, can be taken by the two ministries as they are "authorised to take a call on that."

The CISF is tasked as the security force to guard civil airports in the country but as of now only 60 such facilities are under its cover.