Jan. 28: The cost of providing enhanced security cover for their premises will be huge for IT companies and industrial associations with some of them opting for the Central Industrial Security Force to man their premises.
The Electronic City Industrial Association (ELCIA) is the second private outfit in the state to install CISF personnel here on Friday after Infosys and will spend around Rs 2 crore per annum for a commando team of 68 armed security personnel.
The CISF will provide armed protection to the 500-acre ELCIA campus, which houses around 130 IT firms including global giants Infosys, Wipro, HP, Siemens, TCS, GE Power, Tata BP Solar, Tata Power and Fanuc. The operations will be overseen by inspector general of CISF (western range) R.K. Misra.
Apart from the elite trained forces, the association has also hired a team of around 40 trained private security personnel at a cost of around Rs 25 lakh per annum to man the 11 exits in the campus, says H. Prakash Rao, CEO, ELCIA.
The Infosys campus in Bengaluru, which got the CISF cover last year, spends around Rs 3 crore per annum for a team of 101 armed security personnel and later this year, their Mysore campus, which is much bigger than Bengaluru, will also be given CISF cover. Another IT major, IBM, is also in the league of firms who have opted for elite security cover.
Enhanced security cover will only get more expensive with an average two per cent increment in government scales. However, the cost of CISF cover will be shared by the major IT firms on their campus, said Mr Rao. “The bigger members of the association will take the maximum burden but it is unavoidable,” he added.
The only individual who is protected by the CISF in the state is the vice-chairman of the National Minorities Commission H.T. Sangliana. His team of eight commandoes comes at a price of around Rs 25 lakh per annum.