Coastal security network must ensure zero tolerance to error: Parrikar

Terming the Indian Navy and Coast Guard's joint operations facility, the Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) as 'a bold initiative', Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday called for zero tolerance to error in the coastal security network.

Describing the IMAC as 'a bold initiative' and 'a reply of this great nation to the Mumbai attack', Parrikar, while inaugurating the facility at Gurgaon, candidly admitted that the surveillance network still has some gaps which need to be plugged.

He accepted that it was an enormous task considering the fact that there were about two to three lakh fishing boats operating in our coast lines and the active cooperation of the state governments would be required to achieve one hundred percent success. he Defence Minister also called for a change in mindset to correlate the data that would be available through the massive surveillance network to ensure 'zero tolerance to error'.

Parrikar said, besides coastal security, we have to protect our interests in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). He also said some of our neighbours were trying to get their Navies in the Indian Ocean and the Navy must be watchful of their activities.

"We do not want to be offensive but we must be strong enough to deter our enemies from casting an evil eye upon us," he said.

Naval Chief Admiral RK Dhowan also said that the project would go a long way in beefing up the maritime surveillance and, thereby, enhancing the National Maritime Domain Awareness Project.

Set up to provide coastal security and to avert tragic incidents like the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai, the IMAC is the nodal centre of the National Command Control Communications and Intelligence Network (NC3I Network), and is a joint initiative of Indian Navy, Coast Guard and Bharat Electronics Ltd to improve coastal surveillance.