By IANS,
Bangalore : The ceremony to welcome the latest “entrants” to IT bellwether Infosys Technologies at its Electronic City campus here Friday was a grand one, with the company’s co-founder, chairman and chief mentor N.R. Narayan Murthy himself doing the honours.
The 101 “new entrants” were, however, no IT geeks joining the country’s second largest software exporter as its recruits.
They were the personnel of Central Industrial Security Force in their uniforms, bearing arms and marching in smartly to begin guarding the sprawling campus of the Infosys Bangalore campus where around 20,000 people work.
CISF Inspector General R. K. Mishra assured the Infocians that his men will be unobtrusive in carrying out their duties.
“We will protect techies and the company but won’t intrude on their private space,” Mishra told IANS.
“Our men will not do frisking and other checking of the employees. So, where is the question of intruding on the private space of Infosys employees?” asked Mishra.
T.V. Mohandas Pai, director (Human Resource) and Infosys board member, said that techies and rest of Infosys employees were aware of security drills that would occasionally be conducted and were game for it.
“We already have around 350 security personnel, some of whom are also armed. So, our employees are used to gun-toting guards. The security cover at Infosys is meant to protect the techies and company and not to harass them by intruding on their private space,” Pai explained.
“I have no problem going through security measures while entering my office. This is done for the best interests of the employees and we need to co-operate with the security personnel,” said Infocian Arman Ali.
His colleague Shweta said: “I welcome the CISF friends and wish them all the best.”
Infosys Technologies Friday became the first private firm in India, post the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, to get security cover from the CISF.
The CISF personnel will provide a 24X7 protection shield to the Indian software giant which, intelligence agencies believe, could be a target for terrorists. The detachment comprises an assistant commandant, an inspector, 12 sub-inspectors, 18 head constables and 69 constables.
Infosys will be shelling out around Rs.100,000 daily for the CISF cover.
The decision to deploy the CISF for security duty at Infosys follows appeals from private industrial houses, hotels and hospitals for central security after the Nov 26-29 Mumbai carnage that claimed the lives of over 170 people, including 26 foreigners.
CISF has 79 requests pending from private establishments. These include Reliance Jamnagar Refinery, Wipro, Taj Hotel (Mumbai), Trident Hotels (eight locations), Hotel Marriott (Mumbai), Delhi Public School (three branches in Delhi), Jaypee Group of Hotels (eight locations) and energy major Torrent Powers (Ahmedabad).