The Centre’s ambitious coastal security plan received a setback after most coastal states, including Maharashtra, expressed inability to guard the internal coastline due to lack of trained manpower.
At a state police forces’ conference here, the DGPs of various coastal states expressed their concerns to Navy chief admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma and director general of Coast Guard Anil Chopra. They said that the Navy and the Coast Guard were better equipped to do the job.
Coastal security has been a top priority for P Chidambaram ever since he took over as Union home minister after the November 26 Mumbai terrorist attack. Chidambaram has been monitoring the progress on this front alongside the implementation of anti-Maoist terror plans.
Sources privy to the deliberations of the coastal security session said that the states also expressed their apprehensions about maintaining the sophisticated high-speedboats. “The cost incurred annually to maintain a high-speedboat costing Rs12 crore is Rs5 crore. The DGPs expressed their inability to meet the maintenance cost of the speedboats with the state budget,” sources said, adding that the DGPs also expressed their reservations on training manpower to guard the coast.
At least three to four DGPs pointed out that the annual quota of 700 liters of fuel per speedboat sanctioned by the Centre was not enough for round the clock surveillance.
Meanwhile, Chidambaram has directed the concerned officials to complete the crime and criminal tracking network and systems (CCTNS) project aimed at increasing coordination among various state police forces to counter terrorist threats as soon as possible. “The completion of the project will provide additional teeth to the country’s counter-terrorism mechanism,” he said.
The ministry has provided Rs89 crore to the states under the CCTNS for the networking of all crime-related data at the police-station level. The project covers 35 states and Union Territories and will connect over 14,000 police stations and 6,000 higher offices.
