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Security agency firms under scanner for licence 'scam'

Still, these companies were being awarded licences by the HG Department. That indicates a brewing scam, sources said

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Are security men guarding your building actually trained? The Home Guards (HG) Department in a recent review has found that at least 30 out of the 145 registered security agency companies across the state were not fulfilling the mandatory requirements to obtain Training License (TL).

Still, these companies were being awarded licences by the HG Department. That indicates a brewing scam, sources said.

The department has a checklist of parameters for obtaining TL. Security companies are required to inform the department about their training grounds, how big the ground is, the equipment used for training, number of instructors from police/armed forces, number of rooms/halls for trainers, number of trainees each hall/room can accommodate, and whether records of those who have received training are maintained.

An HG official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "Training licences for security guards are issued by the department. The licence for the deployment of these guards are issued by the respective commissionerates. When we checked some of the security companies, we found that some of them had no offices, training ground or equipment. Some didn't have trainers. Some of them have also trained people without licences."

A show-cause notice given to a leading global integrated security company in Pune, accessed by DNA, says: "An inspection was conducted in December 2016, in which it was found that the area of training ground was less. In November 2016, 141 persons were provided illegal training and a list of 1,001 persons who were provided such illegal training have been submitted to the HG office. You are hereby asked to submit your reply, and only after that it would be decided to provide training licence to your agency."

"In our recent review, discrepancies have been found and they are being inquired into. HG officers are also being questioned as to how licences were issued. We have issued show-cause notices to those companies which have violated norms and have sought their replies," said additional director-general of police, Home Guards & Civil Defence, Sanjay Pandey.

The Home Guards is a voluntary force, first raised in India in December 1946, to assist the police in controlling civil disturbance and communal riots. Their role is to serve as an auxiliary to the police in maintenance of internal security, help the community in any kind of emergency such as an air raid, fire, cyclone, earthquake, epidemic etc.

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