NEW DELHI, OCT 8
For effective surveillance at sea, the government has sanctioned a Coast Guard plan to deploy radars, cameras and sensors on all lighthouses in coastal areas, to detect and identify ships close to the shore.
In the two-phase project, 46 lighthouses would be equipped at a cost of Rs350 crore by the end of 2011 in Phase I.
The inputs gathered by the network would be shared with all the agencies concerned on a real-time basis, sources said. Another 56 lighthouses are to be equipped in the second phase of the project.
Since the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai, the Indian Coast Guard has carried out 26 operations in coordination with other maritime security agencies on the basis of intelligence inputs, to nab ‘rogue’ boats and trawlers with terrorists. However, so far, no one has been apprehended, defence ministry sources said.
During the same period, the Coast Guard, Navy, Customs, state fisheries departments and Marine Police forces have carried out 28 exercises – around one each month – to expand vigil, improve cooperation and prevent any attacks in future.
The Coast Guard is using Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft, choppers and around 20 ships to keep an eye on Indian territorial waters. After the attacks, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) sanctioned 40 ships, 20 boats and 42 aircraft in February last year, the sources revealed.
Recently the force commissioned a Coast Guard Station at Murud Janjira on 30 September, which will help to plug the gap between Goa and Mumbai. Earlier there was no Coast Guard station between these two places.
