Offshore defence exercise conducted in Mumbai

Mumbai: A co-ordinated exercise code-named ‘Prasthan’ was conducted by the Indian Navy and other defence, state and civil agencies in the Offshore Development Area (ODA) off Mumbai.

The exercise is conducted every six months to validate measures and procedures to address various contingencies that may arise in the oil production platforms.

The current exercise was conducted on Friday on R12A (Ratna) platform of ONGC, located about 45 nautical miles west of Mumbai harbour.

The exercise commenced in the early hours and was conducted in two phases over the day, an India Navy spokesperson said.

The first phase saw security emergencies such as attack by terrorists and bomb threat from IEDs.

Upon receiving information of the threat, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, based at Mumbai, who is also the Commander-in-Chief (Coastal Defence), West activated the requisite contingency plan.

The Crisis Management Committee, comprising senior officials from various defence, State and civilian agencies, assembled at the Indian Navy’s Operation Centre to facilitate a co-ordinated response to all emergencies involved.

The Crisis Management Group assessed various aspects of the emergencies and initiated co-ordinated actions by concerned agencies as per established Standard Operating Procedures. The Indian Navy, in conjunction with the Indian Air Force, deployed its anti-sabotage teams to neutralise security threats in the affected oil platform.

The first phase of the exercise also saw actions to counter contingencies such as terrorist intrusion, bomb threat, man overboard, medical evacuation of platform crew and oil spill in the area. This was followed by the second phase which witnessed action against contingencies such as fire in the oil platform and assisting a disabled vessel in the offshore development area.

A number of ships and helicopters from the Indian Navy, the Indian Air Force, the Indian Coast Guard, ONGC, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Director General of Shipping were deployed for the exercise. Personnel from Maharashtra Police, Customs, Fisheries Department, Mumbai Port Authorities, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authorities, India Meteorological Department and other concerned State and Central civilian agencies also participated in the exercise.

"The drills and procedures were undertaken in a synergetic and coordinated manner. The exercise provided a realistic setting to assess the preparedness of all concerned agencies to tackle these contingencies as also the procedures for co-ordinating actions among various agencies. A detailed analysis of all activities would be undertaken to refine existing procedures and assess aspects that need to be further strengthened and improved," the spokesperson said.