Just when the Centre mulls floating a National Maritime Authority (NMA) to streamline maritime operations along India’s 7,500-km coast and to coordinate coastal security operations among stakeholders and coastal States, Kerala continues to be lackadaisical in giving shape to the mandatory State Maritime Board for regulating maritime activities along its strife-ridden coast.
Though the State Cabinet approved a draft Bill for the formation of a Kerala Maritime Board with much reluctance in 2010, it has not been enacted so far.
“We sent the Bill for Presidential assent over two years ago and have responded to queries whenever it was sought, but we have not received consent yet,” said a senior official in the Ports Department.
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He said now that the Assembly was in session, the government would try to get it ratified on the floor of the House before seeking the President’s nod.
Ports Minister K. Babu, however, said the Bill was unlikely to be presented in the ongoing session. “It is now with the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs, from where it will go to the Union Home Ministry for consultations and clarifications before being endorsed by the President,” he said.
The creation of maritime boards in all coastal States was recommended by the Centre in the aftermath of the seaborne terror in Mumbai in 2008. While Gujarat already has a maritime board, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu quickly followed suit.
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With its 580-km coast frequently witnessing skirmishes between fishing folk and merchant vessels, as the coast is astride some key international sea lines of communication (SLOC), there was a fervent appeal to carve out a mechanism to streamline maritime activities in the State.
“It is badly needed to bring about synergy of operation between all coastal security stakeholders, including the State Police, which doesn’t have a dedicated cadre for coastal policing,” said a navy official. “Further, a maritime board would speed up registration of fishing vessels,” he said.