Friday, Aug 23, 2002
Friday, Aug 23, 2002 |
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Tamil Nadu
By R.K. Radhakrishnan
These would be ready for deployment by the end of the Plan period. One vessel would be deployed on the eastern seaboard; another in the west and the third on the Andaman islands. Once this process was complete, India would join the elite few with exclusive ships to fight pollution. A fourth ship would be added during the next Plan period. While their primary role would be pollution control, the ships would also be equipped to carry out search and rescue and patrolling. Vice Admiral Bansal, who was here to check out the force's pollution fighting capabilities, said the technology and equipment with Coast Guard were about a decade old. ``We have to update this in view of our larger responsibilities,'' he told presspersons on board CGS Sarang. Pollution response was ``important but a slightly unglamorous'' operation for Coast Guard. Every year, Coast Guard handled five or six cases of pollution, with the monsoon season accounting for the bulk of the problem. Coast Guard has an exclusive phone number (1718) for people to call and report sea pollution. It is uniform throughout the country and the phone is located in Coast Guard stations, and district and regional headquarters. Towards meeting the objectives of the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation, and the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOS-DCP), Coast Guard has activated two pollution response centres with advanced tier-1 capabilities on the west coast at Vadinar and Kochi and one on the east coast in Visakhapatnam. These are in addition to three regional centres in Chennai, Mumbai and Port Blair. The next NOS_DCP would be held in New Delhi on September 6.
Coastal security meet
Tomorrow Admiral Bansal would chair a coastal security conference here. Attended by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, the Indian Oil Corporation, the Navy and the Indian Air Force, the meet would assess security threats and counter measures for vital installations such as Bombay High and Godavari oil platforms, and also nuclear and space establishments. Asked whether there was an increase in narco-trafficking following peace initiatives in Sri Lanka, Admiral Bansal said Coast Guard had not apprehended any one with drugs. But this did not mean that no trafficking was taking place. With the increased equipment, Coast Guard would step up vigil. The force enjoyed good relationship with the Sri Lankan Navy, which was cooperating in sending back quickly Indian fishermen who strayed into the island waters. ``There has not been any shooting incident for a while,'' Admiral Bansal said. While Coast Guard provided protection to fishermen in Indian waters, more often than not they crossed over to Sri Lankan waters, hoping for better catch.
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