Technopark and Its Security

>>Some new uniformed men taking charge at the gates of Technopark might have caught everybody’s attention and a few might have wondered where the “veterans” had disappeared and why. From Group 4 to Private eye. Does it make a sea change in our security system? The answer is a big No. Technopark and its premises should be well protected not because VVIPs are working here .Relatively, a huge number of employees work here round the clock and due its national and international recognition, even small scale incidents will have much news value that may damage the reputation of this Special Economic Zone.

 Do we have a professional security system here? Are the men professionally trained to perform professionally? So far affairs went well here not because the answers are in affirmative for those two questions. It is everyone’s lot that days pass here incidents free, although not absolutely. In some institutions, we have experienced the Security men themselves posing problems for the employers or for the establishments they guard. At hospitals, around us, everyday we hear of skirmishes among security men, patients and relatives of admitted people inside. These tumults take place only because these self styled security guards have no professional experience to deal with the emerging situations created by patients or their relatives.

Most of the security men we see around are retired hands from various defense organizations in which the experience and duty they have had there is totally different from the conditions of a hospital in which the battle goes on between life and death. Applying the same tactics everywhere, every time will further intricate the issue sand treating every issue as a law and order issue is not the solution.

Technopark has a distinctly separate ambiance and the working conditions and the security issues arising out of this are totally different from other establishments. So, an ordinary security system is not going to protect this SEZ forever. All the buildings here are sky rise but tragically we do not have a firefighting system to evacuate people from top floors in times of emergencies. A lot of job related interviews are conducted everyday inside the campus. Do we have a mechanism to monitor and guide them once they reach the campus? All employees carry ID cards, but they remain useless if we do not have a system to check the authenticity of those cards. A large number of vehicles enter and leave the campus and the streets are busy with traffic. So far we have not seen any system to keep the speed of vehicles with in safety limits. Many a thousand women employees work here and commute. What all extra measures have been taken by the authorities to see their well beings are yet be comprehended by many. A help line and fast responding team is inevitable here taking the social circumstances they live in these days.

Nobody can be given full proof protection or anybody can guarantee that. But the feeling we are secure makes the difference. To create that feeling, park authorities should have an agenda to come up with concrete decisions and play a proactive role in building a professional security system for the Park. This will not be possible without the active cooperation of each and every employee. Any laxity from the part of the employees will make the authorities difficult to run the security system effectively. In this troubled world, each of us has to shed some freedom to be secure. Otherwise we will be compelled to understand the humor and reality in what Prof Allen said: “Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security’

Prathap MR

(Author  is a well- known commentator and columnist, primarily on political and social issues, currently engaged by TechnoparkToday)