A team of eight Coast Guard personnel and Coastal Security Policemen left the city on four motorcycles on Saturday on a mission to create awareness on organisations involved in coastal security.
This programme is among a series of events organised by the Coast Guard as part of the 34th Raising Day celebrations to be held on February 3.
Six members of the Coast Guard and two from the Coastal Security wing visited Udupi, Malpe, Kundapur and Bhatkal on Saturday. On Sunday, they were joined by Indian Navy personnel on their visit to Karwar, Kumta and Bhatkal.
“It's an attempt to reach out to the fishermen who are important to us,” said Commandant P.S. Jha, Commander of Coast Guards, Karnataka. Such a rally was organised once in three months, he added.
The primary task of the rallyists was to collect the contact numbers of fishermen and the local gram panchayat president. They would give the telephone numbers of the Coast Guard and police officials to the fishermen so that they could get in touch. “We will ask the fishermen to make use of the VHF wireless sets, which is available in all boats, in case of general distress call. This will help boats nearby initiate rescue operations,” said a Coast Guard officer.
This would help the Coast Guard maintain vigil on the West Coast while preparing fishermen to attend distress calls. The initiative was to help develop more eyes to watch movement of strangers on the sea, the officer said.
Flagging off the rally on Saturday, Commandant Jha asked the members of the rally to interact with fishermen and remove the fear of Coast Guard and Coastal Security Police. Later, a function was held at Udupi where the Superintendent of Coastal Security Police M. Soudagar and Deputy Superintendent of Police Sadananda Nayak took part.
Rally ends
Karwar Correspondent reports:
The motorcycle rally taken out by the Coast Guard from Mangalore to Karwar concluded on Sunday. Commanding Officer of the Indian Coast Guard Anil Sharma told fishermen that the main aim of the rally was to understand the problems of the fishermen. He called upon fishermen to call toll free number 1554 in case of any suspicious boats or activities. He assured them that the Coast Guard and the Coastal Security Police would always work for the security of fishermen. He said the fishermen should always carry their identity cards.
