Plug gaps in coastal security: Parrikar

The Indian Navy’s new Rs 450 crore coastal surveillance network has several holes that may take years to be plugged in, for ensuring fool-proof coastal security.

“We need monitoring between Karwar and Mangalore as gaps like Bhatkal needs to be plugged. Though there is a (camera) link at Bhatkal, it needs to be put up properly as Goa and Bangalore are 350 km away (from the shore). There is no radar point between Goa and Ratnagiri too,” Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said here on Sunday.

The minister asked the security agencies to closely monitor Bhatkal on the Karnataka coast, which, he said, was being used as a site for smuggling and terrorist activities.

Inaugurating the Navy’s national communication, command, control and intelligence network at Gurgaon days before the sixth anniversary of 26/11, Parrikar said Navy and Coast Guard were working on bridging many gaps on India’s 5,700-km long coast line to ensure that a repeat of the Mumbai terror attack did not occur in future.

Manned from the Navy’s brand new information management and analysis centre, the Rs 453-crore network currently gets inputs from shore-based cameras from 20 naval and 31 coast guard stations, 46 coastal radars, long-range identification and tracking system, meteorological systems, world registry of shipping data and satellite feeds.

The data is fused, co-related and analysed at the Gurgaon centre using a customised software made by US company Raytheon, to identify the rogue ship or dangerous cargo, said Rear Admiral K K Pandey, assistant chief of naval staff in charge of communications, space and network centric operations.

But the net is far from perfect. Out of 46 stations, only 36 are in the mainland while four are in Andaman and six in Lakshadweep. The numbers are too low to be adequate for a fool-proof safety net, exposing the vulnerable areas as highlighted by Parrikar.

The Coast Guard has plans for a phase-2 of coastal radar network in which 38 more radar stations would be set up. “At the moment, site selection is going on and we hope to come to the Cabinet Committee of Security with the proposal by the middle of 2015,” Coast Guard Director General Anurag G Thapliyal told Deccan Herald.

The minister admitted that fishing boats are the biggest challenge for the coastal surveillance network because they do not carry any transponder and cannot be detected using the surveillance instruments.

The Navy currently is carrying out a pilot project off Gujarat to put the automated transponders in 1,000 fishing boats. Its success will determine how the project can be scaled up.

Parrikar said he would call a meeting of the coastal states to find out how they can be roped in. “Fishing vessels have to be compliant. But they cannot afford the instruments. The states would have to support,” the minister said.
DH News Service