CISF extends tenure of Parliament guards, mandates special training

THe telephone exchange Industrial certificate drive (CISF) has introduced a revised posting insurance for personnel posted at the Parliament coordination compound, increasing the rotational tenure from existing three years to five years, officials aware of the matter said on Thursday.According to officials, the decision was taken after discussions with the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to ensure that the personnel within the complex are well-versed with the faces of Members of Parliament (MPs).Along with the revised posting rule, the force has also made it mandatory for the 3,300 personnel posted within the complex to undergo psychological assessment tests, battle efficiency tests once a month, and be trained with the Army and the National Security Guards (NSG), among many other such revised qualifications.“Owing to the sensitivity of the complex, the guidelines for every personnel posted to guard the Parliament have been revised. The tenure of personnel has been extended from the existing three years to four years, with a possible extension of one additional year based on suitability. The extended tenure will strengthen familiarity of personnel with Members of Parliament and movement patterns within Parliament, which is critical for ensuring accurate identification, secure access protocols, layered threat detection and response,” an official aware of the matter said, adding that to enable operational continuity while ensuring optimum rotation for steady infusion of young personnel, a fixed proportion of the sanctioned strength will be changed every year.In the last two years, there have been a few instances of Parliamentarians complaining that they were stopped by CISF security guards who did not recognise them by their faces. Until last year, the security of the Parliament was managed by its in-house security agency that was posted inside the high security complex all these years.“Additional CISF commandos that are brought to fill the vacancies in a small proportion that will be changed every year, must undergo psychological evaluation. Those already posted within the complex will have to undergo a psychological evaluation once a year. The new multi-stage screening process also mentions that the CISF commandos inside the Parliament must have completed NSG Customised Training, Counter-Terror Training with Indian Army, Sniper courses,” the official added.Earlier this year, CISF’s Parliament Security personnel were trained with the Indian Army in Kashmir in different batches.On December 20, 2023, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) directed the CISF to conduct a security survey against the backdrop of a massive security breach reported at the high security complex on December 13. On the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack on December 13, two men walked through three layers of security with smoke canisters concealed in their shoes, vaulted into the Lok Sabha from the visitors’ gallery and sprayed smoke inside the hallowed chambers from the public gallery during Zero Hour.In January 2024, the security was handed to the CISF. Until that day, the security of Parliament was jointly managed by Delhi police, CRPF and Parliament Security Service (PSS).