In a bid to increase security levels in the eastern seaboard, the Indian Coast Guard is planning to create the post of Additional Director General (ADG) to manage its operations for the eastern coast.
Unlike the North Western and Western Regions, which have an Additional Director General (Western Seaboard), also known as Coast Guard Commander based in Mumbai, the Eastern and North Eastern Regions do not have an Additional Director General for the eastern seaboard so far.
“Talks are on now to create an Additional Director General for eastern seaboard to coordinate with the regions in the eastern coast.
However, it has not been finalised where the ADG would sit,” official sources said.
Inspector General Satya Prakash Sharma, Regional Commander (Eastern Region) stands a good chance to take over as the ADG (Eastern Seaboard) as he is the senior most among the Inspector Generals in the Coast Guard presently and Chennai being the oldest Coast Guard Regional Headquarters in the east, the ADG might have his office in Chennai, they said.
Only few days ago the Navy had promoted its single star-level officer in charge of naval operations in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to two star-level officer. Rear Admiral Alok Bhatnagar is presently the Flag Officer of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry area. Asked about the reason behind the creation of the new post, they said, “It was long overdue. Since the bifurcation of the eastern region into east and north east in 2013, there was a need for a senior officer to be in charge of the eastern coast. Though the ADG for west was appointed in 2013 itself, for some reason the ADG east was not created so far.”
Another officer said that there were more stations being established and with the induction of more ships and equipment, there was a need to create more posts. to manage the new additions to the Coast Guard.
