New coast guard chief in action station

NEW DELHI: Under pressure for being complacent in guarding against the threat of terror emanating from the sea, the coast guard got a new chief on Sunday.

Vice-Admiral Anil Chopra, commanding the navy���s western fleet, took over from Vice-Admiral Rusi Contractor as the new director-general of the force on Sunday, following the latter���s retirement.

This came even as the coast guard conducted a major search and surveillance operation in the Arabian Sea to hunt for any suspicious ship and sanitise the maritime zone, deploying several of its ships and helicopters off the coast of Mumbai and Gujarat, in the aftermath of the terror strike in the financial capital.

India���s coastal security architecture has several gaping holes with the country having a porous 7,516-km coastline, touching nine states and four UTs, 13 major and 185 minor ports, and a huge 2.01 million sq km exclusive economic zone (EEZ) set to further expand after the delineation of the continental shelf in a couple of years.

The coast guard, tasked with protecting the country���s long coastline, offshore assets and EEZ, is grappling with less than authorised force-levels. For instance, despite a minimum ���authorised��� strength of 106 vessels and 52 aircraft, it is making do with 80 ships, many of them aging, and 45 aircraft.

On its part, the force has projected a requirement of as many as 268 ships, 113 aircraft, 18 UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and a wide array of radars by 2017 to effectively meet the growing operational challenges of maritime security.

Courtesy: The Times of India