Siddhivanayak Temple will be protected by personnel trained by security experts from Israel.

Temple authorities have struck a deal with the Institute of Advance Security Training and Management Pvt Ltd, which, in turn, has a tie up with Israeli Military Industries (IMI), a security and anti-terror training institution run by the Government of Israel. IMI experts will help train a private force of personnel who will protect the temple premises.

Institute director Rathin Banerjee said, “The training will be for a month. We have a mixed group of senior ex-Indian Army personnel and Israeli security experts. The Israeli instructors will deal with aspects like the martial art of Krav Maga and some counter-terrorism-related issues.”

“The premises of our temple are already covered by CCTV cameras provided by Zicom Securities, of which the institute is a part. The company arranged a presentation by Israeli security experts. We found it very helpful and decided to contract them for training our private security force,” said Subhash Mayekar, chairman of the Siddhivinayak Temple Trust.

“We will have two batches of 25 personnel each. We are now conducting physical tests on candidates before final selection. They include some of our own security staff, some who had applied for security jobs with us earlier, and some relatives of existing temple staff who are interested in such a career,” he added.

Mayekar stressed the need for such a force. “The force will not confine its duties to securing and protecting the temple premises. They will also be trained in crowd management and taught how to deal with various kinds of devotees such as pregnant women, senior citizens, and also things like evacuation in case of a fire or a similar emergency.”