The Rs 35,000 crore private security industry, with manpower of over 55 lakh, is plagued by a host of problems, including shortage of licensed gunmen owing to restriction in the current legislation and lack of exposure or training in terror strikes or intelligence gathering due to their limited sphere of work in private enterprises.
The industry, which has been highly unregulated in the past and which continues to be so in states where the Private Security Agency Regulation Act has not been implemented, is still struggling to infuse some standard best practices.
The mind boggling number of players in the industry, with each having its own set of regulations, training, recruitment procedure, verification process and prerequisites of its personnel, appear to be far from equipped to handle the current security scenario except for some reputed companies who have acquired international standardisation.
Karnataka, which has been on the radar of terrorists, has still to implement the Act, which would bring under perview all its current players and infuse standard practices.
"We have been urging the state government to implement the act and the authorities now appear to have displayed some keeness in enforcing the act," said Viswhwanath Katti, Chairman of Karnataka Chapter of CAPSI, the apex body of the industry.
The industry has seen many fly-by-night operators or those who invest little in recruiting licensed gunmen, obtaining arms due to their prohibitive cost and in training their personnel except for some crash courses and a focus on a 'soldier look' when deploying their personnel.
