Multi-agency Sea Vigil exercise underway off Goa to assess preparedness

The second phase of the multi-agency Sea Vigil exercise to check the preparedness of security forces began off the Goa coast on Wednesday, officials said.

Conceived in 2018, the exercise was basically to derive the lessons and actions to be taken after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Commodore Dushyant Purohit, Chief Staff Officer, naval officer in-charge of the Goa naval area, told reporters at Vasco (in South Goa).

The first phase of the exercise was held from November 12 to 19.

The second phase, which began on Wednesday, will continue for 36 hours, the official said.

"A lot of improvement in the coastal security happened subsequent to the attacks. Presently, the fourth edition of this exercise is in progress. The aim of this exercise is to find our vulnerability and where we need to improve in the process of coastal security and defence," he said.

"Another aim is to generate lot of consciousness about coastal security in our population for which, this time, we have deployed children from Scout and Guides as well as NCC cadets," the official said.

The security awareness programme for fishing community which is going on throughout the year has also been intensified, he added.

Commodore Purohit said the Sea Vigil exercise was being conducted in two phases.

"The first phase commenced from November 12 and was in progress till Tuesday, in which a joint team was made under the leadership of the Indian Navy with personnel from the Indian Coast Guard, coastal security police (Goa Police), Intelligence Bureau as well as the state fisheries department and other coastal security agencies," he said.

The joint team went to various positions across both North and South Goa, such as fish landing points, ramps, coastal security police stations, and carried out a "realistic evaluation of what is our capability and where we need to improve," he said.

"This audit is going to be very helpful in finding out what we need to do in the future," he said.

"In this exercise, we have a realistic simulation of the coastal security threat and there will be people who will act as infiltrators and there would be attempts to catch them," the official said.

This time, it will be the largest exercise including coastal states, island territories in which more than six ministries and 20 organisations are involved, he said.

The defence forces have established a coastal radar network after 26/11, and lot of improvement has happened in the coastal surveillance, the official said.

"The surveillance on coast and in the sea are the areas where constant improvement is required," he said adding that for this reason, the entire "fishing community acts as eyes and ears".

The Indian Navy gets a list of vulnerable areas from the state government, the official said.

"Such areas which are sensitive, vulnerable and important are already given lot of security. We are checking whether there is sufficient protection to these areas," he added.