Kerala - Kozhikode   

Need to step up coastal surveillance

Kozhikode: As preliminary investigations reveal that Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives landed on the Maharashtra and Gujarat coasts undetected to carry out the latest terror attack on Mumbai, calls for strengthening the vulnerable coastline of Kerala will gain strength.

A major portion of the susceptible 590-km coastal stretch of the State lies in north Kerala. Kasaragod has 70 km of the coastline; Kannur, 82 km; Kozhikode, 71 km; Malappuram, 70 km; and Thrissur, 54 km. Senior police officers say the State government has to give top priority to safeguarding the coast from intrusion in most districts.

Incidentally, the Home Department is yet to get started the work on a coastal police station in Kozhikode district.

More than two years ago, the Union Home Ministry drew up a plan to set up the station at Beypore under the Coastal Security Scheme. The work has not started since the government is yet to identify land for the station.

The scheme was launched in 2006. The Centre had approved sanction of funds to set up 73 coastal police stations in various parts of the country within a year.

The district administration has now started efforts to acquire land at Chaliyam. The land identified at Beypore could not be acquired.

An officer said that land for the coastal police station should have facilities enabling high-speed boats to land and move swiftly to the sea.

The Kozhikode coastal police station will be equipped will high-speed boats competent to chase and intercept intruders on the sea. It will have the Global Positioning System to keep vigil up to a distance of 12 nautical miles (about 22 km) into the sea.

Nearly 50 police personnel from the State police had been trained by the Indian Coast Guard in maritime vigil. Many of them have been posted to various police stations, an officer said.

The Marine Enforcement and Vigilance Wing at Beypore has a limited role in policing and combating terror groups on the waters. Its basic function is rescue operation. The Coast Guard at Beypore has been entrusted with the task of keeping a vigil over the seas, although its officially permitted jurisdiction is limited to 20 nautical miles (about 37 km), an officer said.

Less than a year ago, a new police station started functioning in the coastal village of Vellayil in the city. But only a coastal police station as envisaged by the Centre will be best suited to maintain vigil on the coastlines, he said.

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