Naval, coastal officers meet fishermen to strengthen security in Navi Mumbai

To strengthen the coastal security of Navi Mumbai, the Naval and coastal security officers met the fishermen in a community interaction programme

To strengthen the coastal security of Navi Mumbai, the Naval and coastal security officers met the fishermen in a community interaction programme.

Naval, coastal officers meet fishermen to strengthen security in Navi Mumbai. (HT PHOTO)

The officials during the workshop asked the fishermen to be alert and be the ears and eyes of the coastal security forces. “The intention of the programme was to guide the fishermen on how to get in touch with the police and inform them about any suspicious activity,” Rupali Ambure, Deputy Commissioner of Police, said.

In May, there was an instance wherein the fishermen noticed signal flares abandoned at the shores of Kegaon, Uran. “After we got the information, we and the BDDS team inspected the site and found that the flares were used and discarded, and were harmless,” Shrikant Dharane, senior police inspector from the coastal security, said.

The community was given different phone numbers of the police force along with 1093, which is the coastal helpline number. “We emphasised on keeping appropriate life-saving apparatus on board and to use Automatic Identification System (AIS) so that their boat could be traced in case of any emergency,” Dharane said.

Meanwhile, Bhalchandra Koli from the fishing community, said, “We were asked to inform the police if we ever found any new person outside of our community in the sea or on the shores and also if any unidentified boat was seen in the sea. Most of us have already installed AIS on our boats but not all can afford it. We expect the government to get that done for us.”