Rajnath Singh to review coastal security in Mumbai today

Mumbai: Home Minister Rajnath Singh will on Thursday hold a meeting with top officials of nine coastal states and four Union Territories to review coastal security.

Singh will be accompanied at the meet by Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju.

Senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Inter-State Council Secretariat, the Registrar General of India, defence, Indian Coast Guard, shipping, animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries besides state home ministers, chief secretaries and directors-general of police from these states will also be present at the meeting.

The nine coastal states are Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal, and UTs are Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and the Lakshadweep.

The meet will discuss an expeditious implementation of coastal security schemes, institutional set-up in the participating states and UTs to review coastal security, constitution of state maritime boards, security of non-major ports and single-point mooring, coastal mapping, and islands' security.

The issues to be deliberated upon also include distributing Biometric Identity Cards and Card Readers among the fisherfolk, colour coding of fishing and other boats, monitoring of fish landing points and crossing of International Maritime Boundary Line by the fishermen.

There will be presentations by the Coast Guard, coastal states and Union Territories highlighting the measures initiated by them for ensuring coastal security and their additional requirements to strengthen it.

(With IANS inputs)