India

CISF Adopts Functional Sector Model to Boost Protection of Key Infrastructure

By PTI

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) announced on Sunday that it has shifted from a territorial command model to a functional sector architecture. The new structure groups units of the same type under a single umbrella to improve security for the country’s strategic and economic assets. The change will affect sectors such as power, coal, steel, petroleum, natural gas, government buildings, museums, monuments, seaports, and mass rapid transit systems including the Delhi Metro.

"Effective today, the CISF has officially transitioned its supervisory architecture from a territorial command model to a highly specialised, functional sector model," the force said in a statement. "This landmark restructuring, rolled out with the concurrence of the Ministry of Home Affairs, represents a strategic reset aimed at elevating national security, enhancing force preparedness, and securing the critical infrastructure essential to the vision of a Viksit Bharat."

Formed in 1969, the CISF currently has an estimated strength of about 2.70 lakh personnel. It guards vital installations in the public and private sectors, more than 70 civil airports, and facilities in the nuclear and aerospace sectors. Until now, its field and administrative bases were organized by territorial jurisdiction, resulting in mixed security deployments—for example, a single field formation handling both power and coal sector units. Units guarding space, atomic energy, and airports were exceptions and had been under a single command.

The reform is based on the principle that security should be organized around the function of an asset and the impact of its disruption, rather than solely its location. The change has redesignated the CISF’s Western Sector headquartered in Mumbai and the Southern Sector based in Chennai as the West Coast Port Sector and the East Coast Port Sector, respectively, according to a senior officer.

In 2025, the Union government designated the CISF as the nodal seaports security force and authorised it as the Recognised Security Organisation for that domain. The force will now operate across a total of 11 sectors.