CISF to engage with Metro commuters 'politely but firmly'

New Delhi, Feb 2:

can look forward to "polite" frisking as

deployed at all stations are now being aggressively trained in soft skills, the new chief of paramilitary CISF has said.

"The approach is to give a good service which is polite but firm. While there will be no let up on the security side, the men and women of the force would be courteous and even encourage commuters to cooperate in security matters," Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) chief Arvind Ranjan told PTI here.

Ranjan took over the command of the 1.40-lakh strong force in December last year and has now initiated a slew of measures to refine communication and other security skills of his troopers who have a large-scale public interface by virtue of their deployment in airport and Delhi Metro security.

The CISF is tasked with the security of country's 59 airports including the entire Delhi Metro network running across the national capital region which includes Delhi neighbourhoods of Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Noida.

The Director General (DG) said a number of specialised trainers, drawn from different walks of life, will be invited to conduct year-round special sessions for the personnel.

Personnel and officers posted at the airports will also be brought under this new scheme of soft skills classes.

Small batches of five-six personnel will be sent for these training sessions and their behaviour will also be evaluated as part of the long-term drive initiated.

Some new steps are also envisaged for providing the personnel with necessary gadgets and paraphernalia which are required by them to render security duties at these mass public transport terminals.

Ranjan, who has earlier served as the DG of the elite commando force NSG and deputy chief of the border guarding BSF, said the troopers will be trained in such a way that they also engage the commuters while they render their duty.

This, a senior official said, could be done by making the public more vigilant about any unusual activity in the Metro and alerting the force personnel.

PTI