Team Herald
VASCO: Indian Coast Guard (ICG), recently celebrated 42 years of its eventful existence, challenging journey in rendering yeomen service to the nation.
Indian Coast Guard which came into existence on Feb 1, 1977, is a multi-mission organisation. And with the enactment of Coast Guard Act 1978, the service became a full-fledged independent Armed Force of the Union under the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Goa Coast Guard DIG Himanshu Nautiyal, on occasion of 43rd raising day reassures that the service would continue its endeavors at sea towards safety of life, property and protection of the maritime interests of the nation and prevailing maritime environment with the motto ‘Vayam Rakshamah’ which means ‘We Protect’.
Despite being relatively small and the youngest of the Armed Forces of the country, it has a wide range of task capabilities for both surface and air operations.
Indian Coast Guard is bestowed with the onerous responsibility of protecting our country’s interests in the maritime zones. The multi-mission concept of Coast Guard during peacetime broadly consists of offshore security, search and rescue, anti-smuggling, anti-poaching, lead intelligence agency in maritime borders, effective pollution response including those on requests from friendly littoral states, focal point of the anti-piracy in South East Asian countries and timely assistance to civil administration during the disaster relief in addition to patrolling vast expanse of the Exclusive Economic Zone of India.
Beginning from a mere 5 patrol boats taken from Indian Navy, the Indian Coast Guard has come a long way, where it now has a force level of 119 ships/ boats, 18 Air Cushioned Vessels (hovercrafts) and 62 Aircraft. In addition, the service has five Regional Headquarters, 16 District Headquarters, 28 Coast Guard Stations and 21 Air Establishments dotting the entire coastline of the country.
The Indian Coast Guard is today a vibrant force having cutting edge technology for meeting the Maritime Challenges of the future. In the last few years strengthening the overall maritime security has been accorded top priority and Indian Coast Guard has been designated as Authority Responsible for Coastal Security in Territorial waters.
Coast Guard synergizes its efforts by interacting and closely coordinating with numerous departments of various ministries of the Government of India including intelligence services.
The Indian Coast Guard in the last year has undertaken 222 SAR/MEDEVAC missions , resulting in saving a total 786 precious lives and evacuating 44 patients over the high seas. The Coast Guard District Headquarters No11 Goa, in the last year has undertaken 7 SAR/MEDEVAC Missions, in which a total of 8 precious lives were saved and 5 patients were evacuated off Goa coast.
