The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) is yet to receive formal orders to take over the security at the Parliament, officials told The Hindu.
In the past few months, over 2,500 CISF personnel have been deployed on the premises replacing the Delhi Police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). CISF has assumed some key duties earlier assigned to the Parliament Security Service (PSS) such as issuance of pass and facilitating the entry of MPs.
The fate of PSS officials deployed since 1950, and specially trained to recognise and interact with MPs, hangs in balance with the entry of CISF. Several members have complained of being stopped by CISF officials while entering the premises.
On June 18, DMK Rajya Sabha member M. M. Abdulla wrote a letter to Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, to complain about CISF personnel questioning him on the ‘purpose’ of his visit to the Parliament complex.
In his letter, Mr. Abdulla said around 2.40 p.m., when he entered the Parliament House Estate, he was stopped by the CISF personnel who asked him ‘where I [he] was headed inside the premises’.
Mr. Abdulla said he was appalled by the behavior of the CISF personnel and such an “unprecedented misbehavior has never happened earlier while the PSS was in charge of security.” He said MPs can enter the Parliament even if they do not have any official engagements and he is liable to disclose the purpose and answerable only to the Chairman, who is the custodian of the Rajya Sabha. The Lok Sabha Speaker is the overall in-charge of security at the Parliament complex that houses several buildings.
The CISF functions under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). After a security breach in the new Parliament building on December 13, 2023, MHA accorded in-principle approval to the CISF to survey the complex for regular deployment of personnel on a comprehensive pattern under the Government Building Security. Officials pointed out on Wednesday that no written orders have been issued by the Lok Sabha Speaker’s office yet for the induction of CISF.
The first Parliament session of the newly constituted Lok Sabha is scheduled to start from June 24 and conclude on July 3. The election for the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post is scheduled to be held on June 26.
Retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Yashovardhan Azad, who served as Special Director, Intelligence Bureau, said it was a wrong move to deploy CISF in the Parliament.
“Parliament is an important place, no doubt, but there was an established system in place. The flaw was in screening the visitor, not perimeter security. New security protocols in line with current challenges should be implemented. The officials should be re-trained and technology upgradation should have taken place to detect the colour canisters hidden in the shoes of the Parliament security breach accused,” Mr. Azad said.
Last December, two men jumped into the well of the newly built Lok Sabha and triggered colour canisters, which they had hidden in their shoes, to protest unemployment, Manipur violence and the plight of farmers. Six people have been arrested and are being tried under anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Published - June 19, 2024 08:24 pm IST
