Indian Coast Guard: Exercise on maritime security held
The Kolkata-based Indian Coast Guard’s (ICG) Region North East headquarters conducted a fourth edition of table top exercise under the aegis of Colombo Security Conclave in New Town, Kolkata which focused on a coordinated maritime security in Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
The event saw participation by delegates from Bangladesh, Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles and Sri Lanka. The ICG said that during the proceedings, discussions were held on various topics pertaining to challenges in maritime domain such as tackling threats from anti national elements, marine pollution response, search and rescue and damage control at sea.
“Colombo Security Conclave underlines regional co-operation and shared security objectives concerning all littoral nations in the Indian Ocean Region. It aims to make maritime security, marine pollution response and maritime search and rescue priorities for the region. The coming together of the six Indian Ocean region countries indicate the development of sub-regionalism on a common maritime and security platform and is significant in a wider global context as well”, ICG statement read.
An ICG official said: “a cooperative environment and collaborative mechanism in the maritime neighbourhood of IOR is essential to address the oceanic challenges thereby ensuring maritime safety, security and protection of marine environment.”
Meanwhile, Iqbal Singh Chauhan, Inspector General (IG) of ICG’s North-East Region which is responsible for coastal security of West Bengal and Odisha, recently said that the force will soon begin the second phase of installation of coastal surveillance radar stations. “We have already completed installations of the radar stations in the first phase. These were installed at Sagar Island, Paradip and Gopalpur. We are soon starting the phase two work of the project” he said.
The coastal surveillance system (CSS) comprises a network of remote radar stations with sensors, electro-optics, meteorological and very high frequency (VHF) radio communication units integrated with the command and control centres.
An ICG official said that these radars can help detect and track small fishing boats. This will also help monitor illegal activities in the sea.
The force is also looking ahead to induct six C295 aircraft which are also being made for the Indian Air Force. “We will get six of them. These aircraft would help us reach extreme areas for search and rescue operations in the future.
