Surender Singh takes over as new CISF DG

NEW DELHI: Senior IPS officer Surender Singh today took over as the new chief of central paramilitary force CISF, mandated to guard civil airports and government offices across the country.

Singh, a 1980-batch police officer of West Bengal cadre, was serving as a Special Director in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) before getting the new assignment.

He succeeds Arvind Ranjan who retired yesterday as the Director General of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

An order in this regard was issued today by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet ( ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The new DG was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the headquarters of the force early today and he was also briefed by senior officials," a CISF spokesperson said.

Singh will have a tenure till August next year as the head of the 1.41-lakh personnel strong force tasked to secure some of the most vital and strategic installations in the country like civil airports and facilities in the nuclear and aerospace domain.

Earlier, outgoing CISF chief Ranjan was accorded a farewell by senior officials of the force yesterday.

Ranjan, a 1977-batch IPS officer of Kerala cadre, had been the head of the force for close to 16 months during which he initiated a slew of best practices in the force, especially, with regard to enhancing the security consultancy wing of the force.