Flying can become slightly more expensive if the recommendations of a Parliamentary Standing Committee on ‘Security in Airports in India’ are accepted.
The committee report was laid before both Houses of Parliament on Monday. The committee recommended that the security component of Passenger Service Fee (PSF) needs to be enhanced to commensurate with the security expenditure and to ensure that security is not compromised at airports.
The committee has also called for depositing the PSF security component in the Consolidate Fund of India. Deposing before the committee, the Secretary of Civil Aviation submitted that since the year 2000, ₹130 is levied on every departing passenger as security component of the PSF.
The security expenditure is met from the PSF security component. The report quotes the Secretary as saying that in 2014-15, the total collection of PSF security component was ₹1,132 crore and the expenditure on security was ₹1,319 crore.
The Secretary pointed out that some amount is also collected from the cargo side leaving a deficit of about ₹200 crore. “Thus, the fund available is less than the fund required for security purposes,” he said.
Interestingly, the report also quotes the Home Secretary as submitting before the Committee that he was not really “very sure” as to how much of the PSF security component is really spent on security.
The Home Secretary suggested that the entire PSF security component be put in an “escrow account” so that it is not spent for any other purpose.