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The Central Industrial Security Force (established in its present form: June 15, 1983) is a Central Armed Police Force in India.
It was set up under an Act of the Parliament of India on March 10, 1969 with a strength of 2,800. CISF was subsequently made an armed force of the Union of India by another Act of Parliament passed on June 15, 1983. Its current strength is 1,28,000. The strength will be raised to 1,45,000 over the next 2-3 years. CISF is the largest industrial security force in the world.[1]
It is directly under the federal Ministry of Home Affairs and its headquarters are at New Delhi.
The CISF provides security cover to 300 industrial units and other establishments located all over India. Industrial sectors like atomic power plants, space installations, defence production units, mints, oil fields and refineries, major ports, heavy engineering, steel plants, barrages, fertilizer units, airports and hydroelectric/thermal power plants, and currency note presses producing Indian currency are protected by CISF. Most of these installations are located in difficult terrain with harsh climatic conditions.
CISF also provides consultancy services to private industries as well as other organizations within the Indian government. The consulting wing has amongst its clients some of the renowned business houses and organisations of India including TISCO Jamshedpur; SEBI Hqrs. Mumbai; Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore; Orissa Mining Co., Bhubaneswar; AP Assembly, Hyderabad; Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corp.; HIL Kerala; IARI, Delhi; NBRI, Lucknow and Electronics City, Bangalore. The scope of CISF's consulting practice includes security consulting and fire protection consulting.
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It was set up under an act of the Parliament of India on March 10, 1969 with a strength of around 2,800 personnel and as the name suggests, it was created for the better protection and security of industrial undertakings. There was a limitation though, that industries to be provided protection should be wholly owned by the central government, which has since been modified so that the industries can now be a joint venture with the central government. However the role of CISF has undergone a diversification and it now also protects airports, seaports, metro rail networks, government buildings, heritage monuments (including the Taj Mahal), opium and alkaloids extractions, nuclear power plants, and space installations. It has also moved into the fields of VIP security as well as disaster management.
The Indian Parliament on 25 February 2009 paved the way for providing Central Industrial Security Force security to private and cooperative establishments across the country for a fee with the passage of the CISF (Amendment) Bill, 2008.
The Bill, which was passed by Rajya Sabha on February 19 and Lok Sabha on 25 February 2009, also provides for deployment of CISF to protect Indian missions abroad and its participation in the UN peacekeeping operations.
CISF has started providing security to the Infosys Bangalore campus from July 31, 2009.[2]The Infosys Mysore, the Reliance Refinery, Jamnagar and the Delhi Metro Airport Express Line are the latest additions to the list of private sector establishments to be placed under CISF cover.
CISF has also started providing security to the Infosys Pune campus from April 21, 2011. [3]
The CISF controls airport security at all commercial airports in India. Airport security, in the past, was under the control of airport police (under the relevant state government). However, following the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 in 1999, the topic of handing over security of the airports to the CISF was first proposed. While this proposal lay low for the next two years, the central government woke up to the security threat after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States of America and decided to implement the suggestion. The Jaipur Airport was the first airport that came under the CISF's control on 3rd February 2000. Following this, the majority of the commercial airports in India were brought under its purview.[4] As of now CISF is protecting a total of 58 international and domestic airports in the country.it will be used in elections also.
Security on the Delhi Metro is handled by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), who have been guarding the system ever since they took over from the Delhi Police in 2007.[5] Closed-circuit cameras are used to monitor trains and stations, and feed from these is monitored by both the CISF and Delhi Metro authorities at their respective control rooms.[6] Over 3500 CISF personnel have been deployed to deal with law and order issues in the system, in addition to metal detectors, x-ray baggage inspection systems and dog squads which are used to secure the system.[7] Intercoms are provided in each train car for emergency communication between the passengers and the driver.[8] Periodic security drills are carried out at stations and on trains to ensure preparedness of security agencies in emergency situations.[9]
CISF is unique as a force in that it has a Fire Wing comprising 4,625 officers and personnel giving fire protection to 77 industries. As of 2011, it remains one of the largest paramilitary forces in India with strength of nearly 105,000. It is shaping up as an elite force protecting the critical infrastructure of India.
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