Indian Coast Guard to induct 200 ships and 100 aircrafts by 2018
The Indian Coast Guard is celebrating its 34 years of existence. Over the past three decades, the service has matured into a lean, professional and energetic force, undertaking with pride the various roles for which it was raised. Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, AVSM, Director General Indian Coast Guard (DGICG) stated that "the growth of the service in the past two years has been momentous, as significant progress has been made on the acquisition, operational, infrastructure and human resource fronts. He underlined the fact that the Indian Coast Guard has established itself as the most potent non-military maritime force in the Indian Ocean Region, and has carved a niche for itself, both nationally and internationally."
Last year, the Coast Guard commissioned eight ships and three more are expected to be inducted by Mar 2011. The service is expected to achieve an effective strength of about 200 surface platforms and 100 aircraft by 2018.
On the infrastructure front too, one District Headquarters, five CG stations and one air enclave have been established during 2010, and two more stations and a Regional Headquarters at Kolkata are being established by Mar 2011. By end 2012, there will be a total of 42 CG Stations, 05 Air Stations and 10 Air Enclaves functioning from various locations along the coast.
Coast Guard has increased its sanctioned strength by about 1200 personnel during the year gone by. Many measures such as short service appointment for women officers and CPL holders, increase in number of recruitment centers, promotion of eligible subordinate officers, and special recruitment drives have been instituted.
In order to keep the EEZ and the coastline under constant surveillance, a major thrust has been accorded to operations, with 18-20 ships and 04-05 aircraft being deployed every day. Further, for enhancing the surveillance capabilities a Coastal Surveillance Network (CSN) along the coastline is being established. 46 such stations are being set-up under Phase-I, and 39 stations are planned under Phase-II of the scheme.
For seamless security of the coast, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Coastal Security for all the coastal States / Union Territories have been promulgated by the service, and Coast Guard Stations and Coastal Marine Police Stations are functioning as 'Hub and Spoke' for information outflow. Further, 36 Coastal Security Exercises and 30 Coastal Security Operations have been conducted to validate the Coastal Security Mechanism since Jan 2009. The service has also been actively involved in conduct of Community Interaction Programmes, activation of Coastal Security Helpline 1093 for all coastal States/Union Territories, Biometric Identity Cards for fishermen, uniform registration of fishing boats and monitoring of Coastal Security Schemes.
Search & Rescue operations within the Indian Search and Rescue Region are undertaken by the Coast Guard, round-the-clock. The dedicated efforts of the Coast Guard have saved 559 lives during 2009-10. A successful multi-agency, Maritime Search & Rescue Exercise 'SAREX-10' was conducted at Chennai in Mar 10. A total of 41 medical evacuations were also undertaken during 2009-10.
The pollution response operations undertaken for MV Chitra oil spill in Mumbai Port area in Aug 10, minimized the damage to the marine environment in and around Mumbai. The oil spill was dispersed by Coast Guard ships and aircraft, despite adverse weather and navigational hazards of drifting containers.
The service has also been undertaking many proactive measures for prevention of marine oil spill by providing the pollution response training, audit of their response facilities, and conduct of pollution response exercises at local, regional and national level. It has been advocating the ports and the oil handling agencies to establish the oil spill contingency plans and Teir-I pollution response facilities. A National Level Pollution Response Exercise was conducted off Mumbai from 14-15 Jan 11 to assess the preparedness levels of various stakeholders.
The Indian Coast Guard reaches out to fishermen and teaches them techniques of Survival at Sea, Rules and Regulations through Community Interaction Programs. 454 Community Interaction Programs have been conducted since Jan 2010.
As India has acceded to various international conventions dealing with maritime safety and security, search and rescue and environment protection, the ICG is forging ties with maritime law enforcement agencies of the littorals towards making the seas safe, secure and clean in the region. The participation of an ICG delegation at the first ever International Coast Guard forum at Argentina recently, has acknowledged ICG as a leading Coast Guard in the region. The voluntary audit by IMO, conducted in 2010 for pollution response and SAR facilities applauded the preparedness and performance of ICG.
Being one of the largest Coast Guards in the region, institutionalized visits as per Memorandum of Cooperation/ Understanding with JCG and KCG are being regularly conducted. In addition, a bi-annual Joint exercise Dosti is also conducted with the Maldives. These exercises help in conducting joint and coordinated responses when faced with natural calamities and disaster relief, marine oil spill response and search and rescue operations.
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