Govt ignoring coastal security

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s (CAG) report, which was tabled in the state assembly on Thursday, rapped the government saying that it had failed in its efforts to improve security along its coast, especially after the 26/11 attacks.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s (CAG) report, which was tabled in the state assembly on Thursday, rapped the government saying that it had failed in its efforts to improve security along its coast, especially after the 26/11 attacks.

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The CAG report observed the delay in procuring ‘patrolling boats’ by the government has left the coast vulnerable to terror threats and infiltrators.

The report said that out of Rs60.5 crore, which was allotted to the state government to acquire patrolling boats, nearly Rs34 crore still lay unused.

Rajkumar Vhatkar, deputy commissioner of police (operations), said there were gaps in coastal security, which the police were trying to plug. Agreeing with the report, Vhatkar said, “Lack of resources is a big problem for us as we still don’t have enough boats to patrol our coasts.”

If we get necessary equipment, such as patrol boats, we will be able to fortify the existing safeguards,” added Vhatkar.

Police officers also said that the current manpower was not sufficient to meet growing security concerns along the coast.

“The process to procure the boats has been started and we hope to get them soon. We are training our personnel to operate the boats so there are no other delays,” said an officer.