Team Herald
PANJIM: Imagine if a 26/11 style attack was planned on Goa and our six coastal police stations were called upon to be the first line of defence against fully armed terrorists ready to strike, this is what the ground reality, as of July 13, 2015 is:
Two coastal police stations have no vessels, one has a canoe as the vehicle of operation, two police stations don’t even have a landline including the one in Panjim, the capital, and 70 of every 100 men picked for the coastal security force are not there. And look who their commander is. A Deputy Superintendent of Police who is also the Sub Divisional Police officer of Bicholim and some officers look after two or three police stations miles apart.
Quite clearly coastal security in Goa, is all at sea. With 103 km of the coastal belt, Goa is the coastal State buzzing with international as well as domestic tourists and requires the attention to foil any possible threat from the coast but unfortunately scarce regard is given to that aspect.
There is no full-fledged superintendent of police to this crucial wing of the Goa Police, Deputy Superintendent of Police Ramesh Gaonkar, who is holding charge as SDPO (Sub-Divisional Police Officer) Bicholim, is heading the coastal police in Goa. Two police inspectors manage 103 kms of the coast from Keri in North to Pollem in South. PI Krishna Shetgaonkar, who has hardly two years more in service, is holding charge of Siolim coastal police station and Mormugao Harbour coastal police station. PI Gurudas Gaude is holding charge of Panjim, Betul and Talpona coastal police stations.
The pettier situation is the availability of staff at the police stations which are manned by hardly 25 per cent of the sanctioned staff. But according to DySP Ramesh Gaonkar the present staff is sufficient to patrol the entire 103 kms of coast, “As we are not registering any offences at the coastal police stations, the staff which is presently available is enough for us,” Gaonkar told Herald.
The first coastal police stations were established in Goa in the year 2010 after the Mumbai terror attack. Siolim, Betul and Mormugao Harbor were the first among the coastal police stations. After that more coastal police stations were established Panjim, Chapora and Talpona. Sadly, almost all the coastal police stations are away from the coast, there is no police station building at Talpona and Chapora. Talpona police station operates from Fisheries Department and Chapora police station operates from Captain of Ports residential quarters.
This is the sad state of affairs in the State where Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is holding a high-level meeting to strengthen the country’s coastal security. The State governed by his own party has this ugly coastal policing where none of the police stations is without a grievance, either lack of staff or lack of equipment. Some of the coastal police stations are even without connectivity of landline telephones and wireless sets.
