Nine new Coast Guard Stations to beef up security

Nine new Coast Guard stations would be set up in different parts of the country, mainly on the coasts of Arabian Sea, as a part of a major rejig of the coastal security in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attack.

Defence Minister A K Antony, who recently offered to resign for the lapses of the Navy and Coast Guard in the Mumbai attack, today chaired a high-level meeting to restructure costal security, a vulnerable area of the country’s internal security.

While the new set up of nine additional Coast Guard stations will be sent to the Union Cabinet for final clearance very soon, Antony has shown green light to some other initiatives like complete radar coverage of the entire coastline. The Defence Ministry will work out the details of this scheme with the Ministry of Shipping.

Apart from Antony, the high-level meeting was also attended by Defence Secretary Vijay Singh, DG Coast Guard Vice Admiral Anil Chopra and the DG (Acquisition) SK Sharma. It has been decided to deploy additional ships and aircraft to protect vulnerable areas.

As the Coast Guard has limited resources to quickly address the enhanced security requirements, Antony directed it to lease or hire ships from the global market “in the quickest possible time to meet shortages”.

Defence Minister also assured that approval for buying other cutting-edge equipments and interceptor boats through global tenders will be done on a fast-track basis.

Antony also asked the Coast Guard to coordinate with State Governments for electronic identification of all vessels entering Indian Waters and emphasize on closer coordination with the Indian Navy and intelligence agencies for sharing of information.