AMID the worldwide security concerns of trespassing militant and terrorist elements and drug and human trafficking, airports have become the focal point of all-out security measures but our airports have scant protection despite global connectivity increasing every each year. As per the report carried by a national daily, the UK Department of Transport has expressed concern over the scanning systems of passengers, luggage and cargoes at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital. Earlier, the US and the UK expressed their worry over the slackened security measures at Dhaka Airport that compelled the government to beef up security measures, interestingly without the scanning system, a big hole in our security net.The security assessment was undertaken by a UK aviation security expert. In its findings, the report said the airport failed to meet the required security standards in 75 percent of observations, while succeeding in maintaining that requirements in 25 percent of observations. It further revealed that the passenger and staff screening process at the terminal was ineffective with the scanner not duly focusing on the task, while few bag searches were done during the observation period. Similar poor standards of screening of passengers and cabin bags were observed in the gate room’s central search area during the period. Staff screening standards at the CIP and VIP access points were also found poor.Although bags were all screened, the quality of the screening was unsatisfactory and no bag searches were observed and the hold-baggage was screened by conventional x-ray, while the duty supervision is very ineffectual. Such a security situation is very dangerous for the overall security of the state and any untoward act is likely to occur anytime. The Civil Aviation Authority, the Airport Armed Police and the government at large are responsible for ensuring security at the hub of global transportation in Bangladesh.Money can buy state-of-the-art technologies for the safety of the airport, but our main crisis is incompetent management. Expensive technologies cannot improve the quality of management. It is easy to misuse public money.
