Administration Manual - B.E.S.T. Undertaking.

The Bombay Electric Supply & Tramway Co. Ltd. was taken over by Municipal Corporation
of Greater Bombay on 7 th Aug. 1947 i.e. prior to the independence of India.
During those days, watchmen were recruited and posted for guarding the Undertaking’s
properties, by various departments and there was no Security Dept. With the expansion of public
transport and electricity distributed system, the need of the separate Security Dept. was felt by the
Management.
In the year 1952, “Watch & Ward Dept”, came into existence. The department was kept under
the general supervision of Personnel Officer.
The main functions of Watch & Ward Dept, were defined as –
i) to safeguard property of the Undertaking.
ii) to provide security measures in all respects.
The photography section of the Undertaking was placed under the control
of Security Officer.
The strength of Watch & Ward Dept., in the year 1955 was as under :
Sr. Posts No. of posts Grade
i) Security Officer 1
ii) Security Inspector 2
iii) Havaldar 8
iv) Gate Keeper 8
v) Watchmen` 181
The Heads of the Dept., used to approach Security Officer for their requirement of watchmen.
At that time only 17 watchmen were allotted to man various departments of Electric Supply Branch.
In the year 1955, the first Manual of Watch & Ward Dept. was published highlighting the
functions, organizations, standing instructions, nature of duties, procedures, duty list etc for various
categories.
In the year 1977, Capt. A.Y. Kashmiri took over the charge of Watch & Ward Dept., as Chief
Security Officer. He with his best abilities and having foresightedness about the changing Security
scenario revised the Security Manual.
The Undertaking’s operations both Transport & Electric Supply have grown rapidly during the
last few years. Such a growth has given rise to related problems for which the Security Dept. is called
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