Antony asks Navy, CG to quickly plug gaps in coastal security

New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) India Defence Minister A K
Antony Thursday carried out an in-depth review of coastal
security mechanism put in place post-26/11 and ordered Navy
and Coast Guard to quickly integrate all maritime agencies
into the security grid to plug "gaps" in the apparatus.
At a 90-minute meeting in South Block here, Antony
also did a quick check on the progress made in acquiring new
ships, patrol vessels and interceptor boats for the Navy and
Coast Guard for strengthening surveillance along the 7,500-km
long coastline.
Addressing top security brass, the Defence Minister
said that coastal security should "be the prime concern and
all (agencies) follow up the measures taken in a time-bound
manner to plug the gaps in the apparatus".
He also said Mumbai-type attacks "will not be
tolerated at any cost" and asked all maritime agencies to
hasten the process of integration with the coastal security
grid and coordination in intelligence gathering and sharing
during operations.
The meeting was attended among others by National
Security Adviser M K Narayanan, Cabinet Secretary K M
Chandrasekhar, Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma, Coast Guard
Director General Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, apart from
Secretaries for Shipping, Fisheries, and Animal Husbandry, and
officials from Home Ministry and Border Management
departments.
Antony said the Navy and the Coast Guard, which have
been carrying out patrolling and surveillance off the coast in
the last 11 months post-26/11 terror strikes, would come up
with a plan to address any deficiencies found.
"The Navy and Coast Guard will take a fresh look at
the gaps in coastal security if any and come up with a new
plan to fix these deficiencies," he said.
Noting that coastal security was on top of the
government priority, he said the agencies involved in ensuring
coastal security were adopting "an integrated approach" put in
place post-Mumbai terror attacks.
Chandrasekhar, who spoke on the occasion, said any
effective mechanism could be achieved only when there was a
combined action involving the Navy, Coast Guard and the state
governments.
"States have to be integrated into the system for
results as involvement of states have produced results in flow
of information, which has recently started. In this, the role
of fishermen is very important," he added.
Narayanan, while stressing on the vital role played by
the two coastal security agencies, wanted the response time of
the forces to be shortened.
The meeting was informed that the government would
spend Rs 6,000 crore on procurements for Navy and Coast Guard
and another Rs 300 crore to establish a chain of 46 radars, a
critical component of coastal security. PTI NCB
DDC