The Hindu : Coast Guard to set up five stations

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 22, 2003

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Coast Guard to set up five stations

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI Jan. 21. Scaling down its ambitious expansion plan to more practical levels, the Coast Guard has decided on a two-stage strategy to augment ground infrastructure along the Indian coast.

Right now, about 60 per cent of the Kamath plan (the initial development plan after the force was constituted in 1978) had been achieved, the Coast Guard Director-General, Suresh Mehta, said here today. "Priorities change a little bit with the years and the Coast Guard plans too have to be changed to keep in line with that."

The Coast Guard has prepared a new perspective plan for the next 15 years, following the expiry of the first plan (1985-2000). Even this first plan had to be recast to be co-terminous with the National Development Plan (1992-97 onwards).

The next five-year plan, which ended in 2002, too had a few ambitious projects but due to a host of issues, including restricted finances and delays by defence production agencies, it could not be realised to a large extent. The procurement of six hovercrafts was one purchase that met the last five-year plan deadline.

Vice-Admiral Mehta, who took over the reigns of the force early this month, was here to assess the capabilities of the Eastern Command and to visit some of its facilities.

Of the two Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) promised by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited — among the organisations that faced a U.S. technology transfer ban after the Pokhran tests — only one had been delivered. The ALH would be used for search and rescue operations. A pollution control vessel would be added soon.

A new five-year plan had been drawn up and was awaiting the approval of the Defence and Finance Ministries, he said.

Given the constraints, instead of the earlier plan of setting up 10 stations along the coast, the brown water force had now settled for the first phase and will use its meagre resources to set up five stations — three in the west coast and two in the east. Lakshadweep, where the force has no presence, will be one of the locations while sensitive Gujarat will be the second. Along the east coast, Andhra Pradesh and Pondicherry were the States chosen, Vice-Admiral Mehta said.

On the operations front, the only major incident was the seizure of a cache of arms off the east coast about two months ago. There were no other serious transgressions but poaching still continued to be a problem though the number of incidents had gone down considerably. Peace in Sri Lanka meant fewer refugees crossing over to the Indian shores, he said.

As part of the 26th anniversary celebrations of the Coast Guard, a fleet review will be organised off the Chennai coast. The Defence Minister, George Fernandes, would take the salute, Vice-Admiral Mehta said.

The Coast Guard would keep up its process of engagement with forces of neighbouring countries. This year, ships would visit Bangladesh, Male, Mauritius and Myanmar, apart from taking part in exercises with Japan, he said.

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