Defence Minister Rajnath Singh warned about non-traditional threats in the sea on Friday. Therefore, all the agencies related to maritime security must work mutual coordination. The Defense Minister was speaking on Friday on the occasion of the commissioning of the three coast guards ships in Goa through video conferencing. With the inclusion of a patrol vessel named ‘Sachet’ and two interceptor boats C-450 and C-451, the Coastguard fleet now has a total of 150 ships.
The Sachet is the first in a series of five offshore patrol vessels designed and built by Goa Shipyard Limited, the interceptor boats have been built by Larsen & Toubro’s Hazira shipyard.
While speaking through video conference, Rajnath Singh said that with the involvement of three ships, coastguards will play an important role in the search and rescue operations along with protecting our country’s maritime borders from terrorism, smuggling, and drug-smuggling.
The defence minister also tweeted that the new coast guard ships commissioned today will add to their strength in responding to the threats of Maritime terrorism, Drug trafficking, smuggling and challenges of maritime law enforcement and Search and Rescue cover to Mariners in distress.
The responsibility of the Coast guard is to protect the Exclusive Economic Zone that is along the coasts of the country. There are also 200 nautical miles of Special Economic Zone in the country. The Special Economic Zone is an area assigned by the legislature to be used for business through tax relief, flexible labor laws, etc. While Exclusive economic Zone is in the ocean/sea over which a state has exceptional rights with respect to investigation and utilization of marine assets. The navy is guarding the deep sea ahead of it.
The maritime police of the states are also deployed to protect the coast. Ports are responsible for CISF and DSC (Defence security corps). Due to the presence of many agencies, The ICGS Sachet is the first in the series of five offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) and has been designed & built indigenously by Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL). It is fitted with state-of-the-art navigation and communication equipment.
Due to the presence of many agencies, the Defence minister stressed on coordination among them all.
