Govt sanctions 500 CISF men for Tata projects in Guj, Odisha

New Delhi, Sept 24: The Centre has sanctioned CISF security cover for two multi-crore Tata-executed projects in Gujarat and Odisha to guard them against terror attacks, three years after a similar cover was extended to two other behemoths.

The CISF Act was amended in the aftermath of the 2008 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks to enable the central forces to take over security tasks at those private sectors which are vital and important vis-a-vis country's economic security.

The first project is located in Mundra in Gujarat and is called the Coastal Gujarat Power Ltd which is a special purpose vehicle executed by Tata Power to generate 4,000 MW of power for states like Gujarat, Maharastra, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

"The security deployment at this plant in Mundra has just taken over while at the Tata Steel project in Kalinganagar the deployment will take over soon," CISF Deputy Inspector General (Operations) Atul Katiyar said.

Over 250 commandos have been deployed at vantage positions near this port-side location in Gujarat and they are armed with sophisticated weapons and communication gadgets to ensure a fool-proof security to the vast facility.

The CISF men are mandated to provide "anti-terrorist and anti-sabotage" duties on a quick-reaction basis at the facility and the personnel will not be responsible for "watch and ward" duties which will be provided by security guards employed at the campus by Tata Power.

The Union Home Ministry, sources said, gave its approval to deploy CISF security men for these two large private sector projects almost three years after a similar umbrella was extended to a Infosys campus and the Reliance refinery in Jamnagar in 2011.

They said a survey report was submitted early this year to the Union Home ministry which later gave its approval for deploying close to 500 specially trained commandos for these two projects.

The second project where CISF men will take charge is the modern Tata Steel project based in Odisha's Kalinganagar and it will be secured by close to 300 Central Industrial Security Force commandos on a 24X7 basis to thwart any sabotage or terror attack like incident.

PTI