Two ministries spar over who gets to guard new airport in Sikkim

NEW DELHI: Sikkim's first airport at Pakyong, located near the disputed Doklam trijunction of Indo-China-Bhutan border, is in the midst of a controversy with ministries of home affairs and civil aviation sparring over its security cover.

While MHA has proposed to hand over the security of "strategically important" airport to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) is not keen to deploy the central force there and wants local police to secure it.

The home ministry has argued that CISF is a professional aviation security force which handles 59 airports across the country and in order to secure Pakyong from enemy aggressions, terror threats, hijacking or any other suspicious activity, it would be practical to involve CISF in its security.

PM Narendra Modi is expected to inaugurate this first ever airport in the hill state as it is ready for operations. Pakyong airport, built under the regional connectivity scheme of the government, will connect Sikkim with other states for the first time. Earlier, the nearest airport to Sikkim was in Bagdogra - 150 kms away, from where air-passengers had to take the road to reach Gangtok or other parts of Sikkim. Low cost airline, SpiceJet, has already got permission to fly to Pakyong from Kolkata for now.

The airport, just 60 kms away from Indo-China border, will also prove to be 'strategic' for Indian Air Force to land its aircraft and transport military equipments in case of any dispute with China. India and China had a stand-off at Doklam last year for over two months, which ended after both sides mutually agreed to withdraw their forces from the plateau.