Sudipto Mondal/The Hindu
Security organisations decide to conduct joint air, sea and land surveillance - Global Positioning systems in all fishing vessels
- Over 25,000 fishermen to get smart card
Mangalore, Nov 29: In the wake of the terrorist strike on Mumbai, a ‘high-powered group’ of all security agencies in the region met late on Thursday and charted out a six-point programme for the fortification of Karnataka’s 320-km coastline that stretches from Talapady to Karwar. Closer coordination among various security agencies was the agenda for the meeting.
The heads of Customs Department, Intelligence Bureau, Coast Guards, Central Industrial Security Force, New Mangalore Port Trust, Department of Ports and Fisheries, Central security agencies and Superintendents of Police from Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts met at the headquarters of the Coast Guards at Panambur.
Inspector-General of Police (Western Range) A M Prasad who chaired the meeting told that the responsibility of shallow water patrolling will be jointly shared by the CISF, Customs Department and the Coastal Police.
More than one aircraft would support the deep sea surveillance operations to be conducted by the Coast Guard.
Deputy Commandant of Coast Guards Nithin M Rathore, who is based in New Mangalore Port, said the long distance “maritime reconnaissance aircraft” was already involved in sorties covering the coastline between Kochi and Goa Coast Guard airbases. “There will be daily sorties from now on.”
He said there was a requirement for an air station in Karnataka. “It has already been conveyed to the State Government,” he said.
Prasad said the Coastal Police — a wing of the Karnataka police — would secure all minor ports in the State on a priority basis.
“They will keep a watch on all unauthorised activities that surface from here,” he said. The force would hire fishing vessels for their patrolling activities until they get craft of their own, he said.
Prasad said that by December 31, over 25,000 seafaring fisherfolk of the region would be distributed with smart cards.
Electronic tracking
Apart from being identification systems, it would double-up as electronic tracking and monitoring devices.
In addition to this, all fishing vessels would be fitted with Global Positioning Systems by the end of 2009, he said. Deputy Commandant Rathore sought to allay fears created by reports in certain sections of the media that the vessel used by the militants involved in the fidayeen attacks on Mumbai had passed by the Konkan coast.
Confirming that fisherfolk in Kasargod had indeed alerted the Coast Guard about the movement of a “suspicious vessel” around those parts on November 25, Rathore said: “Our ships, speedboats and aircraft thoroughly scanned the area and found the suspicious vessel to be an Indian fishing trawler.”