|
India to set up coastal police |
 |
In a major development, the Indian Government last week gave its nod to establishing a coastal police force to deal with maritime offences - a move aimed at removing confusion between the Indian Navy and Coast Guard over jurisdiction.
The Home Ministry’s proposal to set up special maritime police stations on land to deal with offences in coastal areas was approved on Jan 28 by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the CCS also gave its approval to a memorandum of understanding the Indian Navy has signed with the Royal Navy of Thailand for conducting joint operations and combined patrolling in the Indian Ocean.
The CCS approved an outlay of Rs.15 billion ($340 million), including Rs.11 billion in non-recurring expenditure, for five years to launch the new police force, Mukherjee said.
It also cleared an additional Rs.3.69 billion for procuring vessels for the maritime police, which will assist the Coast Guard in patrolling and surveillance of the country’s shores.
The capital for the non-recurring expenditure would be borne by the Home Ministry and the recurring expenditure by the Defence Ministry.
The proposal envisages a three-tier security, with the Navy guarding the high seas, the Coast Guard patrolling 10-30 nautical miles from the shores and the coastal police securing the shores and up to five kilometres in the sea.
|
