Union Home Minister Singh chaired the meeting of home ministers, chief secretaries and director generals of police (DGPs) of coastal states and union territories in Mumbai.
Expressing the need for stringent measures to ensure coastal security of the country, union home minister Rajnath Singh has said that in addition to the existing 45 radars, the Centre would be installing 38 for surveillance. He expressed satisfaction over the multi-fold increased coastal security, especially post the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Singh chaired the meeting of home ministers, chief secretaries and director generals of police (DGPs) of coastal states and union territories in Mumbai.
Union minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju and several other top officials from Maharashtra, Goa and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, DGPs of Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Gujarat and other officers from the MHA, participating ministries and states/UTs attended the meeting.
Singh reviewed all aspects of security along the country's 7,516km-long coastline and stressed upon the need to safeguard not only industrial and commercial establishments and strategic installations, but also the entire coastline from external threats through sea routes. He said the coastline has been further secured by the creation of chain of static sensors and Automatic Identification System receivers along the coast and radars operated by the coast guard at 45 locations.
The union minister said that steps have been initiated post 26/11 with the coast guard designated as the authority responsible for coastal security in territorial waters, including areas to be patrolled by the coastal police. The Indian Navy is responsible for overall maritime security, including coastal security and offshore security. Indian coasts are guarded by a three-tier system of the State Marine Police, Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy.
For tighter vigil
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis suggested setting up of a central marine police force for effective policing at the coastline. Expressing the need for e-surveillance, Fadnavis presented the measures taken by the state, including colour-coding of the fishing boats and biometric cards for sailors.
Coastal care
Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said the home ministry has notified 10 coastal police stations, which would reduce the burden on the Yellow Gate police station in Mumbai. Earlier, there was only one coastal police station for registering any offence at sea, and now, with every coastal state having one police station each, the offences at sea even between 12 nautical miles and 200 nautical miles would be dealt by these police stations.
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 "Rajnath Singh")
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