Drugs caught from Gujarat coast in one year more than liquor seized in 50 yrs: Top official

According to an official release, the objective of the programme was to discuss the operational issues in coastal marine police service, inter-agency coordination, capacity building initiatives, financial constraints, infrastructural limitations and practical solutions.

Without naming the Bet Dwarka islands and the demolition drive undertaken against illegal constructions, he also lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for issuing directives to hoist the tricolour on 20 uninhabited islands off the Gujarat coast. “You all know, unauthorised construction was happening on the coast…nothing happened in decades… For the first time after Independence, on January 26 (Republic Day), the marine police along with the BSF and Coast Guard hoisted the flag on 20 uninhabited islands. The Prime Minister instructed us to do this,” he stated.

Jajadiya also stressed on the need for RRU to spread awareness among port operators about coastal security. “While the marine police and other security agencies are aware of the threat, other stakeholders, especially the port users and port operators, are blank because they don’t know of coastal security. They have been fed with the diet that they have to facilitate trade, they are not at all aware of the security threats,” he said, narrating about a successful “mock attack”’ in Bedi.

According to Jajadiya, the marine coastal security force, established in 2006 in Gujarat, was the “first marine task force in the country”. After it was empowered to prosecute illegal activities on shore, he said nearly 50 violators are booked every year.