Fourteen schools have approached the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to get a professional security audit done of their premises and effectively secure students, a development that has come in the wake of the killing of a boy in a Gurugram school recently.
The paramilitary force, that works under the command of the Union Home Ministry, had sometime ago back written to schools across the country extending services of its special consultancy wing that provides security suggestions to organisations and agencies.
“Till date, 14 schools from all parts of the country have requested the CISF to provide consultancy service to strengthen their security apparatus for the safety and protection of school children,” CISF spokesperson Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Hemendra Singh said.
He said that those who had shown an interest in the offer made by the CISF include reputed schools from Kolkata, Mumbai and Dehradun.
“Expert teams of the consultancy wing will soon visit these schools and prepare a professional security blue print for them,” Mr. Singh said.
The CISF security consultancy wing was raised in 1999 and till now it has provided its expert advise to over 150 organisations or institutions, including IITs, IIMs, RBI and the National Police Academy in Hyderabad among others.
The wing also posted its best result this year as it earned ₹2.54 crore revenue as government fee for providing these services.
“There has been noticeable surge in revenue earned through consultancy fee in the last four years,” Mr. Singh added.
“Average annual revenue earning till 2013 since inception was ₹20 lakh whereas in last four years the wing has earned revenue of ₹7.06 crore. This takes the average annual revenue for the last four years to ₹1.77 crore,” Mr. Singh said.
During this calendar year, he said, the total revenue earning was ₹2.54 crore which was the “highest ever in a single calendar year since inception of the consultancy services”.
The previous best earning through consultancy was of ₹2.10 crore in 2015, he said.
The paramilitary, mandated as the nodal security agency to guard critical installations in the country including airports, had dispatched letters last month to a number of schools stating it can help create a “safe and secure” environment for children which will come with a service fee.
The consultancy fee would be around ₹4 lakh for a school, it had said.
The trigger for this all-India exercise by the force was the recent incident of killing of a Class 2 student of the Ryan International School in Gurgaon who was found dead in the school bathroom with his throat slit on September 8.
CISF Director General O.P. Singh had said the force took the initiative as part of its responsibility towards the society.
“We are the best suited government agency for doing such expert security consultancies and in preparing safe environments. We need to ensure safety to the school-going children,” he had told PTI .
The force has assured the schools that its professional but chargeable security solutions will be custom-made for them like it does for each of its clients.
The report tells the client where to install CCTV cameras, where to deploy security staff, how to check access control, how to train their security staff and install emergency response gadgets.
