Salt Lake hot for guards-on-hire

KOLKATA: More and more Salt Lake homes are turning into veritable fortresses these days. Sophisticated burglar systems, alarms connected to police stations, close-circuit television, armed guards... everything is being lapped up in a township hit regularly by robbers and killers.
But more than sophisticated gadgets, people want hands-on security in the form of guards.The demand for this has gone up by 50 per cent in two months.
Private security agencies are suddenly seeing their business booming. Better still, the soaring crime graph has created more job openings in security agencies.
Animesh Ghosh, general secretary of a security agency run by ex-servicemen, agreed there was a sudden spurt in business. "Earlier, most of our clients were central government agencies. But now private citizens are making a beeline for our services. High profile clients have a preference for armed bodyguards," he said.
"Even people with a dubious record (with underworld links) ask for armed bodyguards but we verify their antecedents and turn down their request," Ghosh said.
A large percentage of the new clients are elderly people whose children stay abroad. Politicians, businessman and promoters enlist the services of whole teams. "We received several requests for guards after the brutal assault on a family (in Salt Lake''s Sector II) a few weeks back by a promoter and his goons. Many of the residents are living in fear," said the marketing manager of one such agency.
The cloth merchant, who was the victim of that attack, has himself hired two armed bodyguards. So has a retired chartered engineer living in CL block. "I sleep a lot better at night. The rates are quite steep but it is a small price to pay for my safety," he said.
The windfall for agencies has also resulted in more employment opportunities. "We are being flooded with applications from unemployed youth, many of whom are graduates," said the personnel manager of a small-time agency.