New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday asked operators of private security agencies to undertake welfare initiatives like health insurance, health check-up and pension for private guards by taking advantage of government-sponsored schemes.
Shah also asked private security agencies to hire NCC trained guards so that those employed have some basic training on security.
Launching a private security agency licensing portal initiated by the Ministry of Home Affairs, he said agencies must ensure that each and every private security guard has a 'Jan Dhan' bank account for salary disbursement and there should be no cash transactions with them.
The home minister said there are around 90 lakh private security guards in the country while the total number of police and paramilitary forces is around 30 lakh. That means, there are 24 per cent police and 76 per cent private security guards, he said.
"You should undertake some welfare schemes like regular health check-up of private security guards. You should enrol them under the government-sponsored Rs 2 lakh insurance scheme (Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana) and pay the yearly premium of Rs 22 for each guard. The government will pay rest of the amount of Rs 350.
"Similarly, arrangements should be made so that each private guard comes under the cover of Atal Pension Yojana (a government back scheme)," he said.
The home minister asked private security agencies to employ NCC trained youths as security guards to ensure that they get people with basic discipline.
"We should enhance the credibility of the whole process. People would know that with NCC certificate, they will get a job in security agencies easily. This criteria should be popularised gradually. You will also get people having discipline and patriotic values trained by the government. There is also a Skill India certificate," he said.
Shah said the police verification of private security guards has become easier now as 90 per cent police stations in the country are now linked with a dedicated only system (CCTNS).
"The record of any security guard in those 90 per cent police stations will be easily available. This is also very convenient for you to check with the police the criminal record of a person... you can also do the police verification of existing security guards," he said.
The home minister said the licensing portal will be available in all major Indian languages within the next 90 days.
The government will also ensure that if a security agency is registered in a particular state, it should not face difficulties in registering it in another state and can do it with minimum paper work.
"The portal will also have a section for the people to know how many licence agencies are operating in their state. So that people will not be cheated by any agency which does not have a licence. This will increase the business of agencies having licences. In a way, your work will be done by us. Since we are doing your work, you will also have to do our work.
"I am going to tell chief ministers of all states to launch an awareness campaign and inform people so that they trust only those agencies which have a license. You also have to launch a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of involving licenced agencies. The publicity should be done in regional languages," he said.
Shah also stressed on the need for enhancing the credibility of private security agencies to gain the trust of the country's 130 crore people and cited the example of the Gorkha community which is known for its contribution in this sector.
"It should be our endeavour that your business is expanded by enhancing the credibility of the entire sector. This sector has the potential to provide employment to two to three crore people," he said.
The home minister said for achieving Prime Minister Narendra Modi's goal of making the Indian economy USD five trillion, private security agencies should also work in this direction.
"There is a direct connection. Today, the rise of the industry and trade is impossible without private security guards. I believe that private security guards are the first line of response. First of all, he confronts those indulging in illegal activities. If the first line is more active and prompt, the workload on the second and third line will be less.
"To raise awareness about the law, put some key provisions of the IPC in his training, make him aware of filing complaints online, he should know how to inform the nearest police station upon seeing illegal activities, he should have a conversation with the local police station. These things should be in-built in the work culture so that people would get to know that he is a kind of representative of the local police station and police is involved in their security through him," he said.
Shah noted that during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, casualties were less in a hotel and the Victoria Terminus railway station (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus) in Mumbai as terrorists had to confront private security guards first.
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