Home minister Amit Shah has said the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) should work out a hybrid arrangement with the private security agencies under which the para-military force can prepare the security framework for guarding the private sector industries and installations and train the private personnel accordingly.
Once they are fully ready with such hand-holding by CISF, the latter can step back and hand full charge to the private security personnel, he suggested while addressing the CISF’s 53rd Raising Day event at Ghaziabad.
Stating that the role of private security agencies was expanding rapidly as the nation progressed from a $2.5 trillion economy into a $5 trillion one, Shah said CISF should take the responsibility of training the private security agencies and enhancing their efficiency to secure the country’s industrial sector.
He suggested that the force develop some training models, possibly based on the size of workforce employed by the production units or keeping in mind the need of some selected areas. “Efficiency of private agencies will have to be increased because CISF alone cannot ensure the security of the industrial sector of the entire country,” he stated.
“The work of private security agencies is rapidly increasing…we have brought out rules and regulations for their functioning. Can the CISF take the responsibility of training these private security agencies?” he asked.
Speaking at the event, CISF Director General (DG) Sheel Vardhan Singh said the force can play a big and important role in training and certification of private security agencies in the country which were currently functioning in an unorganised manner.
The CISF has about 1.64 lakh personnel at present, the force guards 65 civil airports of the country and a total of 354 units in the government and private sectors, working in domains such as oil, power, information technology, civil airports, Delhi Metro, aerospace and nuclear.
At present ISF personnel have been deployed to protect about 11 private establishments that include Electronic City Industries Association, Bengaluru; Infosys Technologies Limited, Bengaluru; Infosys Technologies Limited, Mysore; Infosys Technologies Limited, Pune; Patanjali Food and Herbal Park, Haridwar; Reliance Corporate Park Campus, Mumbai; Reliance Industries Limited, Jamnagar; Nayara Energy Limited, Jamnagar; Tata Steel Limited, Kalinganagar (Odisha); Bharat Biotech International Limited, Hyderabad; and Taj Santacruz Hotel Terminal 1C, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai.
This suggestion from the union home minister bodes well for the private security industry, as this will enable the large security agencies such as SIS and Peregrine among others to further train their personnel and take on the responsibility of guarding critical assets that the government will be willing them to take over.
