Less watch-ward, more security work for CISF

The Central Industrial Security Force will thin out the presence of its armed personnel at nearly 200 public sector undertakings as part of a doctrinal shift in the approach of the force, reports Aloke Tikku.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will thin out the presence of its armed personnel at nearly 200 public sector undertakings as part of a doctrinal shift in the approach of the force.

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It will ask government undertakings to outsource watch and ward functions to private security agencies and deploy its personnel on critical security-related jobs, including coordination and access control. “The CISF director general has been asked to draw up the force’s doctrinal philosophy of the nature of security we provide,” a Home Ministry official said.

As part of this exercise, the CISF will also conduct a security audit of protected installations to determine the number of people who can be redeployed at private sector installations like the Jamnagar refinery and Mumbai’s Taj hotel.

The move comes in the background of the Mumbai attacks that prompted the government to promulgate an ordinance to enable the CISF to deploy personnel to guard private sector installations.

But it is not just the CISF that will restructure its deployment. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has noticed some divisions within his ministry are overburdened to the extent that movement of files has become painfully slow and also take a toll on the practice of follow-up. The police and internal security divisions are being strengthened by assigning two more joint secretaries to handle these subjects, Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta said.

The exercise to restructure CISF deployment will take much longer since it will involve an audit of the 230-odd units provided security to distinguish between watch and ward functions and security functions.