The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Jammu could become the first hospital in the country to be guarded by an armed contingent of the CISF given its “sensitive” location close to the India-Pakistan international border, officials said.
The 226.84-acre hospital and medical college is located in the Vijaypur area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district, along the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway-44. The campus is located a few kilometres from the India-Pakistan International Border (IB).
The hospital was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February 2024.
Sources in the security establishment told PTI that given the “sensitive” nature of its location near the IB, the Centre has planned to provide an armed security cover to the facility.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) is expected to be deployed at the AIIMS-Jammu campus, making it the first hospital to be brought under the security cover of the central paramilitary force, the sources said.
They added that a security survey and a manpower-estimation exercise are currently underway.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has for long resisted deploying armed personnel at hospitals post the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, when health facilities were targeted by the terrorists.
The officials said there have been demands from many hospitals to get a CISF security cover for their campuses after 2008, but such proposals were turned down after a broad security assessment of the potential threats to these institutions and the limited manpower of the force. There are many hospitals in the government and private domains that experience high footfall.
Incidentally, CISF personnel have been temporarily deployed at the R G Kar Hospital premises in Kolkata following a Supreme Court directive in August 2024 in the backdrop of the rape and murder of a doctor there.
The AIIMS-Jammu deployment is expected to be a permanent duty for the CISF, the officials said.
The force, which guards vital installations in the space, nuclear and power-sector domains, is also expected to be deployed for the security of the Kolkata Metro.
The 58 stations of the Kolkata Metro along 74 km are currently guarded by the Railway Protection Force (RPF). Once sanctioned, it will be the second metro rail network in the country after the Delhi Metro to be brought under a CISF cover, the officials said.
The paramilitary force is also expected to be deployed to guard the only civil airport in Arunachal Pradesh -- the Donyi Polo Airport at Hollongi in Papum Pare district.
Chief Minister Pema Khandu recently mentioned about the move in a social media post.