India’s key installations under threat, says Shivraj Patil

NEW DELHI: Terrorist threat looms large over India's coastal areas, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said here on Wednesday.

Speaking at a conference of police chiefs of states and union territories, Patil spoke at length on the terrorist threat facing the country.

He said terrorists have reportedly decided to use the sea route to infiltrate and induct arms and ammunition into India.

Simultaneously, they have been collecting information regarding location of various refineries on or near the Indian coastline. "Some LeT operatives are also being trained specifically for sabotage of oil installations. There are plans to "occupy" some uninhabited islands and use them as bases for launching operations on the Indian coast," Patil said.

The minister though remained tight-lipped on direct involvement of Pakistan and ISI, he, however, didn't totally rule out their help in the terrorist operations.

To tackle the exigency, the minister said the Centre has asked the littoral states to establish marine police stations for which the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sanctioned Rs 400 crore for establishing the infrastructure, purchase of boats, etc.

Training of marine policemen has been started with the help of coast guard officials and efforts are on to integrate command and control among the police, coast guard officials and other security agencies for real-time sharing of technical and operational intelligence. 

The country's vital links also face a serious threat from terrorists, the minister added.

In view of the recent Indo-US agreement on Civil Nuclear Energy Cooperation, atomic power plants have become highly vulnerable. Similarly, installations of the oil and natural gas sector, defence, communications and IT sector are equally vulnerable.

There were reports to indicate that some of the multi-purpose projects and shipyards continue to be targets of terrorist groups, Patil said.

Mentioning the recent terrorist strikes, the minister said these were intended by terrorists to generate a communal backlash or to paralyse premier institutions of research and learning.

He said the MHA was also aware of the various designs and plans the enemies have to attack the country's economic and industrial targets.

On Jammu & Kashmir, the Home Minister said that improvement in the overall scenario in the state was a consequence of the ongoing peace process and counter-terrorism efforts.

In the north-east, the Patil said the overall security situation has shown signs of improvement. On naxal attacks, he said that other than firm police action, efforts for economic development of the affected areas would be given a boost to counter the spread of naxalites.