In a landmark decision, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday sanctioned the first-ever all-women CISF reserve battalion which will comprise over 1,000 personnel.
The CISF said in a social media post that the move is aimed at empowering women and enhancing their role in national security.
"The proposal for the creation of all-women battalions in the Force was initiated in pursuance of the direction of the Hon’ble Union Home Minister on the occasion of the 53rd CISF Day function," it said.
According to PTI, the unit will be raised from within the sanctioned manpower of the force of about two lakh personnel.
The Union home ministry had issued a sanction order this week approving an exclusive women reserve unit in the force.
The total strength will be 1,025 and the unit will be led by a senior commandant-rank officer.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has 12 reserve battalions under its establishment at present.
These units are kept in reserve and used as reinforcement when the force gets a new job like temporary duties of conducting elections and permanent tasks of guarding an installation like the Parliament House complex that came under CISF cover this year, an official said.
The force has a huge women interface at facilities like the 68 civil airports that it guards, the Delhi Metro and historical monuments like the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. The force had projected a requirement of having an all-women reserve battalion which has been recently sanctioned, a home ministry official said.
Apart from these installations, the 1969-raised CISF provides a counter-terrorist security cover to a number of facilities in the nuclear and aerospace domain apart from those in the private sector like the Infosys offices in Bengaluru and Pune, Reliance refinery in Jamnagar (Gujarat), among others.
(With inputs from PTI)
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