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Among the estimated 50,000 migrants who have fled Gujarat are hundreds of security guards who protected residential colonies, malls, banks.

New Delhi: Scores of private guards are believed to have fled Gujarat amid a backlash triggered against migrants over the alleged rape of a child, sparking security concerns in the state.

The apex body representing private security guards in India has claimed that most of the estimated 50,000 migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh who left Gujarat were sentries guarding various establishments such as residential colonies, malls, banks, ATMs and office buildings.

“In Ahmedabad, a huge number of people working as security guards left,” said Kunwar Vikram Singh, chairman of the Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI).

He added that the Gujarat arm of CAPSI was still in the process of establishing how many security guards had left their posts from each district.

CAPSI, he said, was “trying to cope with the situation” and mitigate the negative consequences.

Singh said there are more than 5 lakh security guards employed in Gujarat, and over 70 per cent of them, or 350,000, are not from the state.

Gujarat witnessed an intense backlash against migrants when reports emerged two weeks ago that a migrant worker had allegedly raped a 14-month-old. According to a report in Scroll, attacks on migrants have since been reported from at least seven of the state’s 33 districts.

While the rape has been described as the immediate trigger, the backlash followed reports of local resentment against migrants over jobs. The Indian Express reported that Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor, accused of inciting violence against migrants, said locals were upset about industries violating a government rule requiring 85 per cent of their employees to be Gujarat residents.

Also read: BJP wants to do a political encounter on me, says Alpesh Thakor

‘A request not to leave’

According to estimates offered by CAPSI, which represents the estimated 25,000 security agencies in India, there are around 8 million private security guards in the country, among the highest in the world.

Singh said CAPSI was in talks with supervisors at security agencies and residential welfare association (RWA) members to encourage migrant workers not to leave.

“This creates a very insecure place for our clients,” he said. “As for the people [migrant workers], they will think 10 times before coming back to the same city. There is fear among them, anything can happen any time.

“If your security person is feeling insecure — that is highly undesirable,” he added.

Also read: Migrants attacked in Gujarat: Mumbai-like anger for workers or reaction to minor’s rape?

‘Intelligence agencies should predict mischief’

According to Singh, the first job landed by most unskilled migrant workers was usually that of a security guard. “Very strangely, young people from UP, Bihar, and the northeast are willing to serve anywhere in the country,” he added.

Citing the 2012 exodus of northeasterners from Bengaluru over rumours of impending attacks, Singh said the intelligence set-up should be able to pre-empt mischief against migrants.

“The intelligence agencies of the government should be smart enough to find out what is happening,” he said.

“If they can’t find out, then it is a failure. You know that elections are coming, you know that people are going to play mischief, and create tensions,” Singh added.

“The law and order machinery should be smart enough to anticipate these things. And then be prepared to deal with such situations,” he said.

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