WHEN the Chhattisgarh government quietly published Act No. 15 of 2025 in its State gazette on May 20, what emerged was far more than routine legislation. The Chhattisgarh State Industrial Security Force Act, 2025 lays the legal foundation for a wholly new armed force, purpose-built, self-financing, and modelled unmistakably on the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), to stand guard over the state’s vast and strategically sensitive industrial corridor. A copy of the Chhattisgarh State Gazette, Act No. 15 of 2025, notified May 20, 2025, accessed by ‘The Hitavada’, reveals that for a state that hosts some of India’s densest concentrations of steel plants, coal blocks, power stations, and mineral refineries, many located in remote tribal districts with complex security histories, the creation of a dedicated State Industrial Security Force (SISF) is a calculated and consequential step. Significantly, the new force is by all probabilities expected to be seen operating on the ground within the next one-and-a-half months. Initial deployment is likely to be carried out on deputation basis, drawing personnel from various branches and units of the Chhattisgarh Armed Forces (CAF) and the District Executive Force (DEF) of several Chhattisgarh Police districts.

 

Adding further momentum to this timeline, a comprehensive set of operational regulations, formally titled SISF Rules-2026, was submitted to the Chhattisgarh Government just four days ago, signalling that the administrative groundwork for the force’s launch is now nearly complete. Notably, both the Act and the Rules have been crafted after an indepth study and rigorous analysis of the CISF Act and its real-time ground operations and capabilities, in addition to a careful examination of similar state industrial security forces already operational in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, and Odisha, lending the framework both national precedent and regional context.

 

The Act, it has been learnt, was not drafted overnight. A fourmember core team of senior IPS officers of Chhattisgarh, backed by technical and legal experts, is understood to have meticulously drafted the legislation before submitting it to the state government. The team was led by Vivekananda Sinha, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP- CAF), and included Sadanand Kumar (IPS, 2010 batch), currently serving as Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG-CAF); Ashutosh Singh (IPS, 2012 batch), presently on central deputation as Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI); and Vikash Kumar (IPS, 2020 batch), currently posted on deputation as Superintendent of Police (SP) in the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The composition of the drafting team, drawn from counter-insurgency, intelligence, investigative, and field policing backgrounds, underscores the seriousness and strategic depth with which the state government has approached this initiative. The SISF is no ordinary security arrangement.

 

Structurally, it mirrors a paramilitary organisation, divided into battalions, companies, platoons, and sections, all operating under the supreme command of the Director General of Police (DGP), Chhattisgarh, with its permanent headquarters anchored at Nava Raipur, Atal Nagar. Two distinct wings give the force its operational character. The executive wing, responsible for all ground-level security duties, draws its officer cadre from Special DGP and Additional DGP level downward through Commandants and Company Commanders. The secretarial wing manages administrative functions, ensuring the force’s institutional machinery runs independently of the regular police establishment. Deployment authority vests entirely with the DGP, who can position Force units anywhere within Chhattisgarh or outside the state, depending on assessed threat and operational necessity

 

 

TALKING to ‘The Hitavada’, ADGP CAF Vivekananda Sinha explained that unlike conventional law enforcement funded entirely by State, the SISF operates on a strict userpays principle, where the industries that seek its protection bear the full cost of deployment, leaving the public exchequer untouched. Any industrial establishment seeking Force coverage must first submit a formal request to the DGP along with an upfront assessment fee of Rs 1,00,000. The Act further mandates that no deployment shall involve fewer than 59 personnel per industrial site, a minimum threshold designed to ensure meaningful, not token, security presence. Sinha further pointed out that to sustain operational morale, SISF personnel deployed at industrial sites will receive a 12 per cent additional allowance, while host industries are legally obligated to provide free medical facilities, housing or house rent allowance, dedicated parade grounds, and on-site armouries.

 

The SISF’s mandate extends well beyond armed patrolling. Under the Act, it is formally empowered to serve as a paid technical consultant to private industrial establishments, offering expertise in security auditing, fire safety protocols, and disaster management planning. Fees collected from such consultancy services flow directly into Chhattisgarh’s Consolidated Fund, making the force a modest revenue generator for the state. Every SISF member holds full police officer status, authorised to arrest and search without warrant under defined circumstances, yet is simultaneously prohibited from joining trade unions, engaging politically, or seeking outside employment.