CAG report exposes holes in coastal security

Glaring loopholes in the state's coastal security were exposed in a recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which pointed to such problems as inadequate infrastructure and coastal police station staff being unable to swim.

The porousness of Maharashtra's 720-km long coastline was laid bare after the 1992 bomb blasts, when explosives were brought into the state through beaches in Raigad district, as well as after the 26/11 terror attacks.

The CAG, in its report on the general and social sector for the year ended March 2014, has pointed to deficiencies in planning for the scheme, delays in construction of coastal police stations and check posts, and infrastructure and manpower shortage.

The CAG report also said that 57% of the non-technical staff posted in the coastal police stations did not possess swimming skills. This was despite the government having issued a circular which made swimming skills mandatory for staff deployed for coastal security.

The boats to be used for patrolling were underutilised, with districts like Ratnagiri reporting just 8.47% utilisation.

As per a three-tier coastal security arrangement, the state is tasked with patrolling up to 12 nautical miles; beyond that, the area up to the high seas is the responsibility of the Coast Guard and Indian Navy.

In 2005, the Centre had formulated a coastal security scheme for implementation by state government. It had approved a total of 19 police stations, 42 vessels, 32 jeeps, 71 motorcycles, 3 jetties and 32 check posts under the scheme.

"The objective of creating adequate infrastructure by construction of coastal police stations, check posts and jetties could not be achieved despite a lapse of three to nine years," noted the report, which was submitted to the state legislature on Friday. It added that to ensure that the coastline does not remain porous for long, the construction of remaining coastal police stations and check posts as well as operational rooms in jetties should be completed without further delays.

The report added that the five coastal districts had a manpower shortage of 40.02% posts with the gap in deployment of technical staff for boat operations being 51.21%. The highest shortfall of non-technical staff was highest at 65.85% in Mumbai. This led to the state government hiring technical manpower on contract basis. "The desirability of engaging contract staff for such sensitive operations needs to be reassessed by the Government as it is fraught with certain obvious risks," the report said.

The audit observed that GPS systems, which could have helped the crew understand the navigational channels and locations of the boats in the sea, were not installed in 34 of the 69 operational boasts.

Though the state government had 76 patrolling boats during 2009 and 2014, including 15 procured before the introduction of the scheme, the audit scrutiny revealed that as against the norms of a minimum 1,400/1,800 hours per annum patrolling requirement for each boat, 76 boats had logged just 90,812 hours which was 18.48% of the norm during 2009- 14 as against the stipulated 4,91,520 hours.

Maharashtra had 25 coastal police stations (CPS) prior to the implementation of the schemes and the Centre had approved 19 CPS at a cost of Rs 6.32 crore under two schemes. But the audit observed delays in construction of the CPS and checkposts. Though a check post was constructed in June 2012 at a cost of Rs 7.98 crore, it was not being used due to non-availability of basic facilities like water and electricity.

The CAG report noted that the coastal police does not have jetties of their own in the five districts. "Consequently, the patrolling boats are anchored either at jetties owned by the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) or the jetties owned by the private operators. As such, there remained the risk of breach of confidentiality of police operations and its further misuse, by virtue of using common jetties," the report said.

Funds sanctioned by the Centre for the project were also unspent and the four Sealegs amphibious marine boats procured from New Zealand by the state government after the 26/11 terror attacks, faced repair and maintenance problems after the expiry of the one year warranty period in 2010. The report has also raised concerns over joint patrolling with the Coast Guard, Indian Navy, Coastal Police and Customs being stopped.

It also stressed on the need for a boat movement token system and pointed to problems in the issue of biometric identity cards to fishermen for facilitating their identification.