Phase-II of Coastal Surveillance Network to be completed on time: Nirmala Sitharaman

NEW DELHI: Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday assured the Coast Guard that the government was committed to the completion of the Phase-II of the Coastal Surveillance Network (CSN) in a time-bound manner.
Addressing the 37th Coast Guard commanders’ conference here, Sitharaman also asked the senior officers to deliberate and discuss ways and means to engage fishing communities to adopt technology-driven instruments for further enhancing safety and security at sea.
Coast Guard director general Rajendra Singh, in turn, said that his force would remain diligent in performing its duty of saving life and property in distress at sea and protecting the marine environment. “It will leave no stone unturned in protecting security interests in the maritime zones of India,” he said.
The CSN, incidentally, was first mooted almost two decades ago but gained momentum only after the 26/11 terror strikes in Mumbai rocked India a decade ago. Under Phase-I of the CSN, 36 radar stations on the mainland, six in Lakshadweep and Minicoy and four in Andaman and Nicobar have become operational at a cost of over Rs 600 crore after several delays.
The Phase-II, which will cost over Rs 800 crore, involves setting up 38 more radar stations with static radars and electro-optic sensors, four mobile surveillance stations and integration of VTMS (vessel traffic management systems) sites in the Gulfs of Kutch and Khambat.
The role of the Coast Guard, which is the defence ministry’s smallest armed force with around 135 ships and 60 aircraft after the Army, IAF and Navy, has grown after the 26/11 terror strikes. The plan is to make the Coast Guard a 175-ship and 110-aircraft force by 2022 to plug operational gaps and strengthen its capabilities to safeguard coastal security, island territories, offshore assets and marine environment as well as undertake anti-piracy, anti-smuggling, oil-spill and pollution-control operations.