Home Minister pitches for welfare schemes for pvt security guards

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.