The State government has allotted 160 acres to the Coast Guard in Kenjar village on the outskirts of the city for setting up its training academy, Chief Secretary T.M. Vijay Bhaskar said here on Wednesday.
Speaking at a function organised by the Coast Guard, Karnataka, to commission its high speed interceptor boat, which will be based in Mangaluru, the Chief Secretary said that it will become the national premier institute of the Coast Guard for training its personnel and later others.
The land has been allotted by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB), he said.
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The commissioning of the intercepter boat will help to strengthen the coastal security the Chief Secretary said, adding that the vessel will be used to check infiltration, prevent smuggling and illegal fishing.
The vessel, C-448, has been built by L&T Shipyard.
Navaneeth Krishnan, Senior General Manager of L&T Shipyard, said that L&T Shipyard had got orders for 36 interceptor boats for the Coast Guard. Subsequently, orders for another 18 boats was placed.
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Terming it as a true testimony of the performance of the vessel, he said all 36 vessels of the first batch order have been delivered.
He said C-448 is the 12th vessel in the series of additional 18 boats. The remaining six vessels are in the various stages of trials.
It took 15 months from keel laying to the launch of C-448. During the trials, the vessel achieved a speed of 45.5 knots as against the required speed of 45 knots. It was delivered to Coast Guard about two months ago, he said.
Stating that the government has used these interceptor boats to build bridges of friendship with friendly countries, he said four of the interceptor boats have been gifted to various countries.
Of these boats, two have been gifted to Mozambique, one each to Seychelles and Maldives.
Anand Prakash Badola, Commander, Coast Guard Region ( West) welcomed. Sindhu B Rupesh, Deputy Commissioner, Selvamani R, Chief Executive Officer, Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat were present.