With Sea Vigil-22, the Indian Navy aims to validate the efficacy of coastal defence organisations against threats emerging from the sea
The exercise Sagar Kavach has been conducted every year in each state along the sea. Mumbai police are seen participating in it at Girgaon chowpatty in 2021. File pic
Threats from sea routes have always been a major cause of concern for Indian security agencies. Hence the Indian Navy will conduct a sea watch today and tomorrow, called Sea Vigil-22, and 15 agencies will participate in the event. The exercise will cover the country's 7,516 km-long coastline and exclusive economic zone to check preparedness of various agencies to deal with any eventualities and bolster overall maritime security.
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A major security lapse observed recently after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008 was a foreign yacht found near Harihareshwar beach in Raigad, this year in August, which had an AK-47 and ammunition on board. However, later the agencies revealed that the boat had sent a distress call in June, the crew members were saved, but the vessel drifted due to bad weather and reached the Raigad coast from Oman.
Constant watch on coasts
According to the Indian Navy, over 250 coastal security exercises have been conducted since 2009 to strengthen coastal security and minimise coastal threats. Apart from this, the exercise Sagar Kavach has been conducted every year in each state along the sea.
The Harihareshwar beach incident has raised several questions on the three-layer coast security which lies with the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and the local police. The incident also forced these agencies to rethink coastal security, as the prime minister's office also took stock of the situation after being briefed by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Doval also visited Mumbai in August after the boat was found in Raigad and met all stake holders including the state government.
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According to the Indian Navy, around 3.5 lakh registered fishing vessels operate along the Indian coast. "The effectiveness of the fishing community in serving as the 'eyes and ears' of security agencies for early warning of threats will be ascertained. Coordination between agencies, seamless flow of information, sharing of intelligence inputs with relevant security authorities and implementation of best practices, and validation of SOPs for various contingencies will be other issues that will be assessed during the two-day exercise," said Rear Admiral Janak Bevli, chief staff officer (Operations) HQ Western Naval Command, while addressing the press in Mumbai.
However, there still are thousands of unregistered fishing boats and the coastal security agencies are worried about this. However, the state governments are allegedly not taking steps to register these boats. According to the Indian Navy, many smaller fishing boats are not registered. Due to regular exercises by them and the Coast Guard, many of these boats are being registered.
Boats with colour codes
The Indian Navy will also strictly implement colour codes for fishing boats to identify their origin. For example, fishing boats from Mumbai city must be painted yellow, those from Mumbai suburbs should be painted brown. Those from Thane, blue; from Raigad, red; from Palghar, violet; from Ratnagiri, pink and from Sindhudurg, orange. Apart from this, there are biometric systems in place to check the details of the personnel manning the boats. Besides unregistered boats, unregistered people on them are an issue of concern.
The Indian Navy has said that there are systems in place to co-ordinate with the fishing community and take their help to get early warning threats, but this needs to be implemented more effectively and they are focusing on it.
Through the 36-hour sea vigil organised from today, the Indian Navy aims to validate the efficacy of the coastal defence organisations at the national level against threats emerging from the sea. "The agencies involved will undertake extensive deployment of their assets to guard against any attacks from the sea. Electronic measures instituted for monitoring and surveillance of the coast will also be assessed," Rear Admiral Bevli added.
Among the agencies participating in the exercise are the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, BSF, Police, Customs, CISF, Department of Fisheries, DG (Shipping), Port Authorities, Oil Handling Agencies, DGLL&LS and several other central and state agencies.
“A detailed analysis will follow on completion of the exercise to identify any shortfalls and the measures required to overcome these shortfalls so as to further strengthen the coastal defence apparatus of the country," Rear Admiral Bevli added further.
15
No of agencies to participate in exercise
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