Minimal Cost of Security

In terms of ‘security’ people are always concerned about protecting their lives and property; Therefore, as a security system, locks and keys, high walls, impenetrable fences, modern CC cameras and other advanced technologies are used. But after all this, there is no substitute for a guard or watchman for security. The law and order forces of the country do not directly fulfill the responsibility of security of all individuals and institutions, they provide the overall security of the country at different levels or stages. For the security of individuals or organizations, they hire guards from private security companies or private security services. The journey of the first private security company in the country started in 1988. As a result, more than 800 private security companies have been established in the country and around 400,000 people have been employed under them. Annual revenue from this sector is about Tk. 400 crores.

The Government enacted the ‘Private Security Services Act, 2006’ and the ‘Private Security Services Rules, 2007’ to regulate private security companies. However, as the Private Security Services Association disagreed with some of the provisions of this Act or the Rules, it reached the court and the Act has not yet come into effect due to the stay of the High Court. In addition, private security services were placed under the Ministry of Labor in 2013 and in 2018, the private security services sector was included as the 40th industry sector of the Minimum Wages Board. According to the ‘Policy for Outsourcing Services, 2018’, security guards have been included in service category-5 in the circular issued by the Ministry of Finance in 2019 in the procurement of services.

Reference: Daily Ittefaq.