The Delhi Government on Wednesday asked banks to hire only licensed security agencies to ‘prevent’ any untoward incident in the future. According to the Government, the banks should also ensure that the security guards are adequately trained as per the guidelines framed by it. In a high-level meeting on Wednesday, in which representatives of 28 banks and 30 private security agencies were present, Arvind Ray, principal secretary (Home department) said that the services like cash-in transit and ATMs should also be handled by security agencies in the national Capital.
Banks were also asked to ensure that the agencies hired by them should be licensed by the Government. It was also clarified that carrying out a business of Private Security Agency without obtaining license under The Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, 2005, is a punishable offence. Recently, with an aim to ensure foolproof security at city’s banks and ATMs, the Delhi Government had decided to approach Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and private security agencies to prepare a blueprint of security plans. The Home Department has also started a procedure asking security agencies to provide details of all their employees on website.
The Government had granted licences to 571 security agencies, while 58 license applications have been rejected and 321 applications are pending due to non-submission of no objection certificate (NOC) from certain agencies. The objective of the exercise is to prepare a database of private security workforce in the city.
The senior administrative official said that 53 security agencies have filled in information in respect to 6,259 guards. “After all the licenced security agencies have furnished online information, we shall have database of approximately 65,000-70,000 security guards in the city, which will be a great help to the government,” said official.