New Delhi: The Coast Guard will soon
establish new regional headquarters in Kolkata for securing
the north-eastern coast of the country, its Director General
Vice Admiral Anil Chopra said here today.
To be called the Regional Headquarters (North East), it
would be the fifth regional office of the coastal security
force, Chopra said addressing the Coast Guard Operational
Commanders conference that concluded here.
"The proposal (to establish the regional headquarters in
Kolkata) is under the consideration of government," he said.
The existing regional headquarters are in Gandhinagar
(North West), Mumbai (West), Chennai (East) and Port Blair
(Andaman and Nicobar Islands), besides the national
headquarters in New Delhi.
Chopra said the Coast Guard also proposed to set up
additional stations at appropriate locations all along India`s
7,500-km-long coastline.
The two-day conference also took stock of the changing
maritime scenario and the operational tempo post 26/11 in
order to impact and sequence the various expansion plans and
derive an updated operational philosophy so as to optimise the
Coast Guard operations, a Defence Ministry press release said.
At the conference, the DG highlighted the rapid progress
made by the coastal security force in the preceding year with
respect to ship acquisition, induction of manpower and
development of infrastructure.
An Offshore Patrol Vessel and two Interceptor Boats were
recently commissioned to augment the surface surveillance
capabilities of the Coast Guard.
Induction of additional Dornier and Chetak aircraft,
Medium Range Maritime Surveillance aircraft, and single- and
twin- engine helicopters, as well as upgrading of the existing
fleet of Dornier, by incorporating state-of-the-art sensors
and equipment, are also in the pipeline.
PTI
