By IANS
New Delhi : Propelled by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), 41 Marine Police stations have been set up in the country’s coastal states with a similar number due to open in the next few years.
“We are assisting the coastal states in setting up Marine Police stations and training the police personnel under the Coastal Security Scheme. To date, 862 police personnel have been trained and Marine Police stations set up in 41 locations,” ICG chief Vice Admiral Rusi Contractor told reporters here Thursday.
“Most of those we have trained had never been to sea before. We helped them find their sea legs,” he added.
“We are also assisting in providing training in the operation and maintenance of the vessels the Marine Police will be operating. These are extremely sophisticated and expensive vessels and even one small slip can prove costly,” the ICG chief said.
According to Contractor, the ICG had suggested that the coastal states also rope in retired armed forces personnel, particularly from the Indian Navy, to beef up their Marine Police forces.
“There is a large bank of trained personnel available. They would be ideal for the task,” he pointed out.
First mooted in the wake of the 1993 Mumbai terror bombings, an ambitious plan to create Marine Police forces finally took off towards the end of 2006.
Orders for some 90 high-speed boats of 10 tonne class and 20 tonne class have also been placed with various shipyards across the country.
The Marine Police is envisaged as the first line of defence along India’s 7,516-km coastline to patrol a strip of 10 km from the shore. Thereafter, the ICG would be responsible for the 10-50 km area with the Indian Navy guarding the area beyond that.
At present, experts say, there are no concrete arrangements to patrol India’s inshore coastal areas and the numerous creeks and rivulets along the coastline. It was largely due to this that the perpetrators of the 1993 Mumbai blasts could land enormous amounts of explosives undetected.
The situation remains much the same, with rampant smuggling continuing unabated – particularly along the west coast, the experts say.
Till 1978, the Indian Navy was responsible for both inshore and offshore patrolling. When the ICG was formed, it was empowered to apprehend defaulters at sea but had to hand over offenders and the entire case to the police of the state off which the offence had occurred.
However, the state police forces did not have the time and inclination to pursue offences committed at sea, even saying this was best left to the ICG. The ICG said this task did not fall within its mandate and this pushed the home ministry to create the Marine Police.