NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that the representation of women in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) would be increased from the present six per cent to at least 20 per cent, in the near future.
Speaking at an event on the occasion of the 53rd Raising Day celebrations of the CISF in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, Shah said that significant efforts would be made by the government to increase women personnel in the paramilitary force. “We will increase it to take the male-female ratio to at least 80:20,” he said.
Shah also said that the role of the 1.64-lakh-personnel-strong force could soon be enhanced by pitching for a “hybrid” security model, which would see CISF training and certifying private security agencies so that they could take over the task of efficiently guarding various kinds of industrial and manufacturing units in the country.
“The work of private security agencies is rapidly increasing...We have brought out rules for their functioning. Can the CISF take the responsibility of training these private security agencies?” he asked.
He said that there was a need to increase the efficiency of the private security agencies as the CISF alone could not render the task of securing the industrial and manufacturing units.
At present, the CISF is in charge of securing 354 units in the government and private sectors, including vital assets such as oil, power, information technology, Delhi Metro, and 65 airports across the country.
Shah also urged the force to collaborate actively with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Border Security Force (BSF) to come up with an active counter-drone technology given how there was a drone attack threat to industrial units along the seaports.