Soon, private agencies may be gathering intelligence

With terrorism posing a real-time threat, Government on Saturday said it was planning to rope in the services of around 50 lakh private security guards in the country for information gathering to boost its intelligence network.

Terrorist attacks can be prevented only by gathering information about their activities beforehand and 'actionable intelligence was not easily available' at the moment, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said in New Delhi.

"We need to know when something is going to happen and where it is going to happen. It is only intelligence that can help and in this context the services of private detectives and security agencies will be useful," he added.

Terrorists have succeeded in creating

a 'fear psychosis' among the people even though the number of incidents have not gone up and it was not possible for the police and the armed forces to provide adequate security to everyone, he said.

At present, there are about 50 lakh private security guards in the country, more than double the number of police personnel, and the intention behind bringing the Private Security Agencies Bill last year was to encourage them to make available their services to the people besides regulating the agencies, he added.

Patil was speaking after inaugurating a two-day national conference on security and intelligence organised by the Central Association of Private Security Industry and the Association of Private Detectives of India.