Kolkata: The West Bengal administration has decided to tighten security for the information technology hub of the State, the Salt Lake Electronics Complex in the city, to prevent incidents like the one in Bangalore last week in which a woman employee of a local call centre was raped and killed. The police, the employers and employees are being sensitised to the security anxieties and measures being contemplated, Superintendent of Police, North 24 Parganas, Praveen Kumar, told The Hindu here on Thursday.

Keeping in mind that the perpetrator of the crime in the Bangalore incident was allegedly the driver of the car engaged by the company where the victim was an employee, special emphasis is being laid by the police here on security steps to be taken at the time of dropping or picking up staff. Employers of the various IT units and call centres in the complex will be asked to maintain a data base of car rental agencies whose vehicles are used by the various units to carry their employees to and from work.

The data and photographs of the drivers should be made available for the police to carry out checks on their antecedents, Mr. Kumar said.

There are nearly 55 different IT and BPO units located in the Salt Lake Electronic Complex in which more than 25,000 people are engaged in multiple services, many on a 24 x 7 basis, according to police estimates. The round-the-clock deployment of policemen inside the complex is also being increased. Fixing special stickers on cars to carry employees to and from work, printed on which will be the name of the IT or BPO firm hiring the vehicle, has also been suggested by the police.

Employers are also being advised that if a group of employees is travelling in a vehicle to and from work, women should not be the first to be picked up or the last to be dropped, Mr. Kumar added.

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