Kendrapara: The Coast Guard of Paradip authority has decided to carry out joint sea patrol with their counterpart in West Bengal to contain Bangladeshi
infiltrators.
The Coast Guard units in Paradip and Haldia would act in
cohesion keeping in view the lurking threat. Security agencies
were perturbed over the spurt in piracy and unlawful sea-route
activity, Coast Guard sources said.
For the first time, West Bengal and Odisha organized a
two-day long joint coastal security exercise recently to boost
security in the eastern region.
Coast Guard Director General M P Muralidhar, who was
here on a two-day visit to Odisha, reviewed the coastal
security mechanism to meet future maritime challenges.
"The Coast Guard DG reviewed security set-up and sought
better coordination with state agencies like marine police,
fisheries, forest and sea fishermen. Rescue mission of
distressed vessels and crew also came under discussion," K P S
Raghuvamshi, Deputy Inspector General, Paradip Coast Guard
said.
The arrest of Bangladeshi fishermen on October 22 last
following interception of a fishing vessel off Balasore coast
and killing of three fishermen on January 29 by Bangladeshi
pirates near Sundarban region had exposed loopholes in the
security mechanism, coast guard sources said.
While a series of measures were put in place to bolster
coastal security in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terror
strike, refurbished security set up was in evidence in
southern and westerns coasts while eastern coast did not stay
in the list of priorities, the sources said.
PTI
