Kerala - Kannur   

Patrolling intensified along coast

KANNUR: The Marine Enforcement and Vigilance wing, the State agency primarily responsible for sea rescue and coastal vigilance, has intensified patrolling in the coastal waters of Kerala in the wake of the terrorist attack in Mumbai amid concern that the State is vulnerable to terror in the absence of a coordinated system for protecting the shores.

Marine Enforcement and Vigilance units stationed at Neendakara, Vypeen, Vizhinjam, Beypore and Kannur have strengthened patrolling up to 12 nautical miles off the coast as part of their heightened vigil. Six of its boats have been patrolling the 600-km coast since Thursday. Marine personnel have appealed to fishermen to inform them of the movement of any suspicious vessel or craft.

The units have been asked to step up their activity in the waters even as lack of infrastructure has been a major hurdle to their operations in the waters closer to the coast, said to be very vulnerable. The units have only five boats for patrolling, Marine Enforcement and Vigilance sources say adding that lack coordination with the Coast Guard and the Navy is also a problem.

Union Defence Minister A.K. Antony announced in May last year a plan to provide a three-tier system to protect the coastal areas of the country against terrorism. The envisaged system involves the Navy working to secure the country’s maritime borders, the Coast Guard patrolling the waters beyond 12 nautical miles and the coastal police to be set up by coastal States with a jurisdiction to protect the shores.

The sources say that the coordination envisaged in the plan for the three-tier system is yet to materialise. In the State, for example, the coastal police force, announced by the State government, has not yet been formed. The proposed coastal police, according to the State plan, will have high-speed boats for intercepting vessels and state-of-the-art communication gadgets. The first coastal police station is planned to be opened at Neendakara in Kollam. The sources say that its five units have good liaison with local fishermen. There are over 3,000 registered fishing boats in the State.

In some seasons, fishing boats from neighbouring States also visit the State’s coastal waters. Local fishermen are often so vigilant that they contact the enforcement units whenever they see any vessel they think suspicious. The enforcement personnel have no arms or other infrastructure facilities for interception in the waters, they say. Despite the lack of infrastructure, the Marine Enforcement and Vigilance wing, with the support of the Coast Guard, recently intercepted a ship which allegedly hit a fishing boat off the Thalassery coast and killed a fisherman.

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