More techies join civil defence, but shun Home Guards

There has been a sharp rise in the number of software professionals joining civil defence services in the last four years, according to records.

The number of recruits, especially from the IT sector, has increased in the last few years, a civil defence official told Deccan Herald.

“Around 6,000 people have joined the civil defence services in the last four years. Of this, around 3,000 are IT professionals,” the official said.

According to records, there are around 10,500 civil defence wardens in the City. As much as 30 per cent of them are businessmen and consultants, 25 per cent are students, 20 per cent are engineers and professionals (which includes IT professionals), 7 per cent are homemakers, 5 per cent are doctors, paramedics and government employees, 2 per cent are CEOs and principals of educational institutions and one percent are celebrities.

Also, interestingly, 40 per cent of the force is made up of women personnel.

Civil defence officials say that most techies who join this field do so with the objective to service society. “They joined the service after seeing others work on the ground during rain havoc, traffic snarls, law and order emergencies, train accidents etc,” the official said.

However, many are not interested in becoming Home Guards because they think that the latter belong to the lower strata of society and have low educational qualifications. “Both are voluntary, honorary services and people from all walks of life join these services. But most IT professionals do not want to become Home Guards,” said S Rangaswamy Naik, Deputy Commandant General, Home Guards and former deputy director of civil defence.

There are as many as 25,000 Home Guards in Karnataka, of which around 3,000 are deployed in Bengaluru. Around 2,000 work with the law and traffic police department, Naik said.