PolicyInternal Security
CISF to guard India's plants and ports by sector, not region, from 1 November
The Home Ministry has approved the biggest overhaul of the industrial security force's structure in decades, replacing eight regional commands with sectors for power, coal, steel, oil and gas, ports and the capital's public buildings.
Key points
- The CISF will move from regional to industry-wise sectors from 1 November, with Home Ministry approval.
- Eight territorial sectors become units for power, coal, steel, petroleum, ports and Delhi's public buildings and metro.
- The airport and atomic energy and space sectors, already run this way for about 25 years, stay as they are.
The Central Industrial Security Force will reorganise itself around the industries it protects rather than the regions where they sit, starting on 1 November. The Ministry of Home Affairs has approved the change, the force said on Sunday.
Under the plan, eight of the CISF’s territorial sectors will become functional ones. Instead of a Western Sector in Mumbai or an Eastern Sector in Ranchi, senior officers will oversee every power station, coalfield, steel plant or port under their charge across the country.
The force said the change was meant to sharpen operational oversight, build expertise in each sector, bring security practices into line across similar sites and improve coordination with the ministries and managers who run the installations. “The reorganisation is expected to establish a more specialised, sector-oriented security apparatus,” it said.
What changes
The NCR Sector in New Delhi becomes the GBMM and MRTS Sector, covering government buildings, museums, monuments and metro systems. The North Sector in New Delhi becomes Power-I, and the North Eastern Sector-II in Kolkata becomes Power-II.
The Eastern Sector at Ranchi becomes the Coal Sector and the Central Sector at Bhilai the Steel Sector. The North Eastern Sector in Guwahati takes over petroleum and natural gas installations. On the coasts, the Western Sector in Mumbai becomes the West Coast Port Sector and the South Sector in Chennai the East Coast Port Sector.
Three sectors are untouched: the one for the Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Space in Bengaluru, Airport Sector-I in New Delhi and Airport Sector-II in Bengaluru.
A model already tested
The force is not starting from scratch. Airports, nuclear installations and space centres have been guarded on functional lines for about 25 years, and the CISF said that experience shaped the decision. It consulted its field formations, headquarters branches and senior officers before sending the proposal to the Home Ministry.
The CISF guards much of India’s critical infrastructure, from airports and the Delhi Metro to refineries, power plants and atomic sites. Its role has grown in recent years. It is the recognised security organisation for port facilities under the international ISPS Code, it has taken on security at high-security prisons in Jammu and Kashmir, and it is the nodal agency for protecting critical infrastructure from aerial threats.
The force is also building up its cyber security and its drone and anti-drone capabilities.
What happens next
The new structure takes effect on 1 November. The force has not said whether the change will alter staffing at individual sites or how many units fall under each new sector.