Coast Guard to acquire 20 ships, 23 aircraft to boost capabilities: DG Pal
NATPOLREX is a biennial drill that ICG organises to assess its preparedness to respond to oil spill events in sea that can cause marine pollution.
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At the 9th National Pollution Response Exercise off Vadinar coast in Gujarat on Saturday. (Express Photo by Chirag Chotaliya) The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is all set to sign contracts for acquiring six offshore patrol vessels, 14 fast patrol vessels, 14 airplanes and nine helicopters to augment patrolling and maritime surveillance activities of the force in an expanded area, announced Director General Rakesh Pal on the eve of the 14th anniversary of the Mumbai terror attack on Saturday.
“We are on an acquisition spree. We are going to sign contracts for six offshore patrol vessels and 14 fast patrol vessels with Mazagon Dock in two months. To augment our force terrain, we are also acquiring nine Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH), eight Dorniers and six C295 long-range maritime surveillance aircraft. All these efforts are part of our coastal security,” Pal said after supervising ICG’s ninth National Pollution Response Exercise (NATPOLREX) in the Gulf of Kutch off Vadinar coast near Jamnagar.
Indian Coast Guard’s Director General Rakesh Pal interacts with the media on Board ICG ship Sahaj off Vadinar Coast on Saturday. (Express Photo by Chirag Chotaliya)
NATPOLREX is a biennial drill that ICG organises to assess its preparedness to respond to oil spill events in sea that can cause marine pollution.
#Watch | Visuals from the 9th National Pollution Response Exercise (NATPOLREX) in the Gulf of Kutch off Vadinar coast near Jamnagar
Read more here: https://t.co/8qwofl9NUF pic.twitter.com/C265p4OrHy
When asked whether ICG was being extra vigilant due to the 26/11 terror attack anniversary and if there was any connection between that terror attack and the NATPOLREX-IX being organised in the Arabian Sea, the Coast Guard DG said, “We deploy more than 50 to 55 ships at sea every day, more than 14 fix-winged aircraft and helicopters are being flown. We have got 42 air stations; so our response time to any incident is not more than two to three hours. So, I can assure you that it is not that on 26/11 we are more vigilant. We are vigilant 24×7 out at sea and we are maintaining good synergy with all the stakeholders, including the state agencies, the Narcotics Control Bureau, Gujarat ATS, DRI Navy and all agencies who are part of the coastal security concern”.
Pal emphasised that ICG and all other agencies conduct drills periodically to assess their preparedness to respond to various situations. “We carry out Sagar Kavach exercise twice a year and it is very important that all the agencies who are involved in this revalidate what are the efforts we are doing, what are the shortcomings of the agencies and then we try to address them,” he said, adding, ICG now works with 14 Union ministries, six organisations and many international agencies.
NATPOLREX is a biennial drill that ICG organises to assess its preparedness to respond to oil spill events in sea that can cause marine pollution. (Express Photo by Chirag Chotaliya)
He also said the Coast Guard now has a mandate to patrol more than 4.6 million square kilometres that goes up to Seychelles and Mauritius, and assured neighbouring friendly foreign countries that ICG will be there to help them in any eventuality. He added that ICG will have a fleet of 200 ships and 100 aircraft in near future.
Currently, ICG has a fleet of 157 ships and 78 aircraft, including 39 Dornier planes and as many helicopters, the DG said. The ICG’s helicopter fleet includes Chetak and ALH. It has three custom-made vessels for responding to marine pollution events and two more are being built at Goa Shipyard and are scheduled to be included into ICG fleet by 2025, he added.
In the ninth NATPOLREX, 20 ships of ICG, one oil tanker of the Shipping Corporation of India, an emergency towing vessel of Directorate General of Shipping, tugs of Adani, Reliance and Nayara groups participated in the exercise. ICG’s Dornier planes and Chetak and Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) as well as C130J Hercules planes of the Indian Air Force also participated in the drill that involved containing fire on board an oil tanker, rescuing people and evacuating casualties, containing spread of crude oil at sea and then clearing the spilling oil by various methods.
Coast Guard now has a mandate to patrol more than 4.6 million square kilometres that goes up to Seychelles and Mauritius. (Express photo by Chirag Chotaliya)
More than 30 delegates from 28 countries, including personnel of coast guards of various Asian and African countries and private firms specialising in responding to oil spill events, participated in NATPOLRES-IX as observers.
Pal said the objective of inviting these international delegates was to demonstrate to them India’s capabilities and also learn from them about best practices.
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