NSG guard the Pathankot Air Force station. Tribune file Photo

Jupinderjit Singh,Tribune News Service,Chandigarh, February 26

Despite reports that enemy spies are entering defence installations in the garb of labourers to carry out terror attacks, such stations continue to hire them.Among others, even the Pathankot Air Force station, which was attacked recently, has floated tenders today for clearing wild growth and clean drains on the airbase for the next financial year. Air Force station, Halwara, and Mullanpur too have outsourced the work.On February 2, an alleged spy, Irshad, was nabbed from Mamoon cantonment in Pathankot where he was working as a labourer. The police later caught his two alleged associates from Moga in Punjab and Poonch in Jammu.Some incriminating photos of the cantonment were allegedly recovered from him. On January 2, a group of four or six terrorists from Pakistan entered Pathankot Airbase allegedly knowing its map well and hid conveniently in the vegetation.Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had told media persons in Pathankot at the completion of the flushing out operation that a better way of clearing vegetation from all defence installations would be found. Intelligence agencies have always suspected the role of labourers in spying.A defence official said there does not seem any other way but to outsource the massive work. “It is a big task. We have to outsource it.” He added that in the wake of recent spying incidents, special care would be taken, “Mandatory verification of the labourers would be done with the help of the local police,” he added.Clearance of the vegetation and drains is an annual feature. As per the existing practice, labourers employed for the purpose are given day passes for the work.