Satellite to keep an eye on coastline

MUMBAI: With the Mumbai attack exposing the vulnerability of the country to sea assaults, the government has decided to use satellite to monitor India���s vast coastline of 8,000 km. The much-needed military space project will be implemented with the help of the Indian Science Research Organisation (Isro) and will be jointly operated by the navy, coast guard and the director general of shipping.

Though naval officials could not be reached for comment, Isro sources told TOI on Friday that the satellite-based tracking system, being introduced for the first time in India, will be operationalized in two phases. The first part envisages tracking vessels with a gross tonnage of more than 300. In the second phase, fishing boats and trawlers of around 100 gross tonnage will be tracked by the satellite.

The failure of both the navy and the coast guard to nab the terrorists and save Mumbai has attracted a considerable amount of criticism, with navy chief Admiral Suresh Mehta blaming the IB and RAW for not warning of the attack through the coast in writing.

The satellite-based tracking unit will be established in Mumbai and data will be relayed to a centre in Delhi. Though certain details of the project are being kept under wraps, it is believed that one of the present remote sensing satellites could be used for the purpose.

On October 22, 2001, Isro launched a technology experiment satellite (TES) which is supposedly a spy satellite. Isro officials to date have, however, refused to acknowledge its spy role and described it only as a normal civilian remote sensing instrument.

At a recent meeting of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Baltimore, Isro representative in the Indian embassy in Washington, Devi Prasad Karnik, was asked by the participants about the possibility of using satellites for coastal monitoring. Pointing out that satellite surveillance of the Indian coast was a daunting task, Karnik said a shortfall for India was the lack of a dedicated satellite for ���disaster monitoring������.