New Delhi: Nearly a year after the Mumbai
attacks, the country's Western coast hosting several petroleum
and nuclear installations are still vulnerable to terror
strikes from the sea route.
A top government source said on Sunday that there have been
regular intelligence inputs like November last year, when
Pakistan-based LeT members came to attack the financial
metropolis through sea route, fresh attempts could be made by
the terrorists to target India's vital installations.
"Petroleum and nuclear installations located on the
western coast are highly vulnerable. Besides, schools, five
star hotels, shopping malls could also be targeted by the
terrorists," the source said.
The Centre has already alerted the states concerned
asking them to heighten security around these complexes.
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) located in
Trombay, a Mumbai suburb, was put on maximum alert and
anti-aircraft guns were deployed in this prestigious facility.
A good number of nuclear power plants in the country are
located along this coast. Six refineries, including Reliance
Industries Ltd's, are located along the West coast in places
like Jamnagar, Mumbai, Mangalore and Kochi.
Security agencies are particularly worried over the fact
that country has nearly a million fishing boats operating in
the Arabian sea and subversive elements may try to hijack any
of them like in November last year when a fishing trawler was
hijacked by the terrorists to reach Mumbai harbour.
"If someone comes via Nepal or through Kashmir, we get
some information. But it is still difficult to get pin-pointed
information about someone coming through sea route," the
source said.
The Indian Navy, Coast Guard and all other security
agencies have been directed to take precautionary measures to
protect such installations as majority of them located on the
sea coast.
"We have improved our intelligence gathering mechanism to
a great extent and we hope that through our increased
vigilance in sea, we will be able to thwart any fresh attempt
by terrorists to attack India," the source said.
According to earlier intelligence inputs Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT) was also planning to attack two schools -- Doon and
Woodstock in Uttarakhand -- and hotels in Goa which are
regularly frequented by foreign tourists.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, November 22, 2009, 13:11