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Govt scrambles to plug gaps in coastal security
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1/29/2010 1:13:41 AM
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NEW DELHI: Better late than never. Over a year after the 26/11 terror strikes,
the government is finally scrambling to plug gaps in the coastal security architecture as well as make the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) a force to
reckon with. Phase-I of the critical coastal surveillance network, for instance, should be up
and running by 2011 under a Rs 350-crore project. This will include 46 stations,
with coastal radars, cameras, AIS (automatic identification systems) and other
sensors mounted atop old lighthouses to dynamically locate and track vessels.
"After Phase-II (with 56 additional stations), there will not be a
single place along the coast not under radar coverage,'' said ICG chief
Vice-Admiral Anil Chopra on Thursday.
All these stations will be
integrated with the National C3I (command, control, communication and
intelligence) Network to provide real-time maritime domain awareness, as also
link operations rooms of Navy, ICG and other agencies.
Moreover, ICG
force-levels and manpower are now set to double in the next few years, and
triple in the next decade. "By 2012 itself, we will have a 100-ship,
100-aircraft ICG,'' said Vice-Admiral Chopra.
This is certainly required
since ICG is still making do with just 43 ships, 23 boats, 24 coastal
surveillance Dorniers, 16 Chetak helicopters and four Dhruv advanced light
helicopters to protect India's vast 5,422-km coastline, 1,197 islands and 2.01
million sq km of Exclusive Economic Zone.
`Big brother' Navy, of course,
chips in but it has more of a `blue-water' role. "We commissioned five new ships
in 2009. We have 85 ships already on in domestic shipyards. Another 75 will
ordered soon,'' said the ICG chief.
ICG is also going in for a major
upgrade of its air wing, with 42 new aircraft already sanctioned by the
government. Apart from 12 Dorniers and 30 helicopters, the force is also going
to induct six medium-range maritime surveillance aircraft, for which Beriev-200
and Bombardier-Q400 have been shortlisted for trials in a Rs 1,100-crore
project.
The number of ICG stations will also go up from the existing 27
to around 40 by 2012. Similarly, 73 state marine police stations and 97
check-posts are being set up in Phase-I of the coastal security scheme, with
another 131 stations to follow in Phase-II.
Navy, too, began training
the first batch of 100 sailors and 15 officers of the `Sagar Prahari Bal' at its
gunnery school at INS Dronacharya in Kochi this month. This specialised force
will have 1,000 personnel and 80 fast interception craft at a cost of Rs 320
crore to protect assets and bases.
The Mumbai terror carnage, of course,
jolted everyone out of their slumber. Navy, ICG, coastal states and other
maritime agencies have held a series of joint exercises and drills along the
west and east coasts to boost security measures and establish SOPs (standard
operating procedures) to handle maritime terror strikes.
"The synergy
has acted as a huge force-multiplier. Based on intelligence inputs, ICG launched
14 big operations in 2009...and possibly thwarted attempts to infiltrate due to
our quick reaction,'' said Vice-Admiral Chopra.
The government, however,
is yet to get cracking on the Maritime Security Advisory Board (MSAB), with a
maritime security adviser as its chief, to ensure cohesive policy-making and
coordination among the multiple maritime authorities, which often work at
cross-purposes.
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