Is city’s coast safe?

Mumbai police have spent Rs 10 crore in the last one year to beef up the security of the city’s coastline. But despite two high-tech speedboats, four sealegs and 24-hour patrolling, the coastline is still vulnerable to threats, reports Megha Sood.

Mumbai police have spent Rs 10 crore in the last one year to beef up the security of the city’s coastline. But despite two high-tech speedboats, four sealegs and 24-hour patrolling, the coastline is still vulnerable to threats.

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The department has imported 19 boats and sealegs from the Goa shipping yard, including two speedboats Koyna, and Kaveri. “We have spent a huge amount of money and have imported high-end boats but when they need repairs, we have to go back to the experts at the shipping yard, as we do not have mechanical experts on site here,” a senior police official said. Anant Rane, senior police inspector of Sagri police station said, “The coastal police are going to get three additional speed boats after December 31.”

HT spoke with a few local fishermen to give you a first-hand account of the situation at Mumbai’s coast:

Mahim creek

The Rs 3.5 crore speedboat named Koyna was bought by the city police post the 26/11-terror attack and was supposed to continuously protect and patrol the western coastline. Since the last 20 days, it has been lying in the yard awaiting repairs and no one is aware of when the repairs are scheduled.

The speedboat travels about 400 km in a day and needs 33 litre of petrol, which costs Rs 1,650 with 12 officers on duty round the clock.

Fishermen in the area say that officers on Koyna are not trained and cannot handle emergency situations. “Koyna cannot stand high tides and it is easy for a bigger boat to overpower it. Once the boat leaves the coast of Mahim it only returns after 12 hours, leaving the area vulnerable during this gap,” said a fisherman.

“Before the department got the Koyna, they used to patrol on fishing trawlers which were expensive, but would take only four to five days to be repaired,” added the fisherman.

Gorai beach

The Sagri police station have also acquired six sealegs (amphibian boats): Of these four sealegs, the one at Gorai is equipped with a radar system, echo sounder, GPS and a wireless communication system. The sealeg travels for about 125 km every day to patrol the area. Fishermen in the area said: “The sealeg is very slow and cannot chase speed boats. Last month a tire on the sealeg was found punctured and it took more than 10 days to repair it. It is difficult to say how long would it take to repair a major fault and if such a situation arises, the coast would completely be vulnerable.”

Novel R, chairman of the fishermen’s association said that although patrolling in the area had improved after the terror attacks, it was not enough. “The sealeg has just one battery and because of the wireless and radar on it the battery gets down very quickly and needs to be charged often,” said Novel.

Yellow Gate

Speedboat Kaveri costing Rs 1.5 crore belongs to the Yellow Gate police station. It was bought to patrol the area between Gateway of India and Vashi bridge. The speedboat is manned by five policemen, who are replaced after every 12-hours. Fishermen in this area allege that officers who handle Kaveri are ill-trained and need to be rescued when they are caught in the high seas.

“Though the area is patrolled by the coastal police, it is very easy for robbers to gain access to the boats in this area. The vast coast cannot be manned just by the Kaveri.

Plus the officers handling the boat are not trained enough for combat in emergency situations,” said a ferryboat owner of the area.

“The drivers of these boats are also fishermen employed by the motor transport department but they are also not well trained for the job or combat,” added the ferry boat owner.