With an aim to prevent any potential terror threat via sea route, the ministry of home affairs has asked all the maritime states to review their coastal security plans.
The home ministry in a meeting with maritime states and representatives of smaller ports on Friday directed them to expedite implementation of coastal police stations, said a source close to the development. The coastal police will also be responsible for operating speedboats for surveillance at the smaller ports.
Also, the government has asked the maritime states to register all fishing vessels operating in their territory, as a part of the security measures, the source added.
While the government has already issued safety guidelines to all the 12 major ports, in the wake of terror attacks in Mumbai, strengthening security at around 200 non-major ports is aimed at insulating the 7,500 km coastline of the country.
The ports handle 90% of the foreign trade. The non-major ports, which are under the jurisdiction of the state governments, accounted for around 26% of the total maritime traffic in 2004-05.
The government has already directed the 12 major ports last week to take up security measures. Also, directorate general of shipping has been directed to conduct security audit of the major ports. The major ports have also been asked to immediately send their security requisitions to the concerned agencies especially the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). They were also directed to acquire two speedboats to patrol their areas of operation.
CISF has also been requested to deploy a marine commando unit at all the ports. ?CISF?s core competency lies in taking care of the security of our ports. However, it requires expertise in dealing with suspicious boats approaching towards the port and nailing them in the sea itself. This is the reason we need marine commandos to effectively safeguard the ports and shipping operations,? said a shipping ministry official.