New Delhi, July 19: A meeting to review coastal security was held under the Chairmanship of Union Home Minister with Home Ministers, Chief Secretaries and Directors General of Police of all coastal States/Union Territories in Mumbai on 16.06.2016, wherein all stakeholders were requested to take expeditious action for strengthening the coastline of the country. It was also decided to consider the proposal for creation of a Central Marine Police Force (CMPF) for strengthening coastal security.
The matter of e-surveillance in major ports is under consideration of the Government.
Government of India has taken various measures to safeguard coastal security of the country against terrorist threats from the sea.
The important measures are as under:
• A three-tier Coastal security ring all along our coast is provided by State Coastal Police, Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Indian Navy. The Indian Navy is patrolling along International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL), while the ICG is mandated to do patrolling and surveillance up to 200 NM i.e. Exclusive Economic Zone of India (EEZ) and the State Coastal Police performs boat patrolling in shallow coastal area.
• The Indian Navy has been designated as the Authority responsible for overall Maritime Security.
• Director General, Coast Guard has been designated as Commander of Coastal Command and made responsible for overall coordination between the State and the Central agencies in all the matters relating to coastal security.
• Coastal Security Scheme is implemented in phases with the objective of strengthening infrastructure of Coastal Police Force for patrolling and surveillance of coastal areas.
• The State Coastal Police Forces work closely with ICG under the hub and spoke concept, the hub being ICG station and the spokes being the coastal police stations.
• Gapless electronic surveillance along the coastline is carried out by using 46 Radar Stations of ICG and 74 Automatic Identification System Receiver Stations of Directorate General, Lighthouses and Lightships.
• Registration of sea-going vessels and identification of persons on board have been made compulsory.
• Joint Coastal Security Exercises are conducted by ICG, in coordination with other stakeholders to create synergy between the Central and the State agencies involved in the coastal security and based on intelligence inputs, Coastal Security operations are also being conducted.
This was stated by the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju in a written reply to question by Kunwar Haribansh Singh, Shri Dhananjay Mahadik, Prof. Saugata Roy, Shri. T.Radhakrishnan, Shri Ashok Shankarrao Chavan, Shri Gajanan Kirtikar, Shri Bidyut Baran Mahato, Shri Satav Rajeev, Dr. Heena Vijaykumar Gavit, Shri Mohite Patil Vijaysinh Shankarrao, Shri Sudheer Gupta, Smt. Supriya Sule, Shri S.R. Vijayakumar, Dr. Sunil Baliram Gaikwad, Shri P.Kumar and Dr. J.Jayavardhan in the Lok Sabha today.
