Date:05/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/05/stories/2008120554080400.htm

New Delhi

Over-stretched JNU guards get little food

Parul Sharma

NEW DELHI: Some security guards of a private agency that took charge of safekeeping of Jawaharlal Nehru University here earlier this week have allegedly been forced to work for many hours at a stretch without food.

The new agency, Skylark, took over from Group 4 this past Monday following expiry of the latter’s contract. Group 4 served JNU for eight years.

Some of the security guards of Skylark have alleged that they are being forced to be on duty much beyond their eight-hour shift.

“I have been on duty since 10 p.m. on Tuesday. It has almost been 24 hours. I was served food only once during this whole period -- that is on Wednesday evening. I have no information as to who will relieve me and when,” said a guard deployed at one of the centres at JNU.

A faculty member recounted how a guard had collapsed on Tuesday evening.“He began crying and told us that he had been at work for the last 48 hours without any food. We provided him something to eat,” the teacher added.

One of the new guards is an M.A. final year student of a university in an adjoining State, who was forced to take up the job because of his family’s impoverished condition.

Manpower shortage

When contacted, the assignment manager of the security agency, Bhurendra, conceded they are short of manpower but dismissed the complaints as some “initial problems”.

“We have got a 125-member staff deployed on the campus. We need at least 80-90 more people, who will join in the next couple of days and then everything will be sorted out,” he assured.

The assignment manager claimed all the guards were being provided two meals per day and were being picked up from and dropped back to nearby Gurgaon, where all of them were put up.

“We have got different equipments for the staff, like torch, baton and walkie-talkie sets, which will soon be distributed to them. Jackets will also be handed out to them. We are also looking for some accommodation for them in nearby areas, apart from two tents being put up on the campus itself,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, the JNU administration, which is aware of the guards’ miserable condition, has taken the new agency to task.