Second Coast Guard unit in Ganjam

The second unit of the Coast Guard in Orissa will be set up near Gopalpur-on-Sea, a coastal town in Ganjam district. At present, one unit of the Coast Guard is functioning at Paradip to guard the state’s 482-km long coastal line.

The Ganjam district administration has identified about 15 acres of land near the Gopalpur port in Matikhala mouza for the purpose. While 10 acres of land is earmarked for the residential houses for the Coast Guard personnel, the remaining area will be set aside for construction of the office building, said VK Pandian, the district collector.

An official team of the Coast Guard is scheduled to visit the proposed site and negotiate with the district collector on Wednesday. "We will discuss with the district collector and acquire land to expedite the establishment of the coast guard unit at Gopalpur", said V Saxena, commandant of the Coast Guard at Paradip unit.

"The construction work for the Coast Guard unit is likely to start from the next month", said a senior district level officer. The identified land for the proposed project is only government land, he added. The establishment of the second unit of Coast Guard assumes significance in the wake of the terrorist attack in Mumbai, when the extremists were reported to have entered through the sea route. Activists feel that the country’s vast coastline with its isolated stretches provides easy access to the terrorists.