BackIndia Navy begins coastal defence exercise 'Sea Vigil' off Indian coast
It will test inter and intra agency activation and technical cooperation like real time sharing of informationThe navy and Coast Guard will join hands with the State Marine Police, state police, port authorities and state fishing departments
PremiumNEW DELHI : The Indian navy launched the first of its kind coastal defence exercise code named “Sea Vigil" on Tuesday to test the efficacy of coastal safety procedures put into place after the 26/11 Mumbai attack a decade ago.
The navy and Coast Guard will join hands with the State Marine Police, state police, port authorities and state fishing departments besides fishing communities and people living along the coast in 13 Indian states and Union Territories for the two day long exercise.
It will test inter and intra agency activation and technical cooperation like real time sharing of information. The conduct of the exercise is being facilitated by the Ministries of Defence, Home Affairs, Shipping, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Fisheries, Customs, State Governments and other central and state agencies.
The aim of the exercise is to provide a realistic assessment of “our strengths and weakness and this will certainly help further strengthening of maritime security and in turn national security," a statement from the Indian navy said.
The 26-29 November 2008 coordinated attack on India’s financial capital was mounted by the Pakistan based Laskhar-e-Toiba terrorist group. Ten terrorists from the group set sail from Karachi, high jacked an Indian fishing vessel to guide them close to the Indian shoreline and later abandoned it for dinghies that they used to land in Mumbai on the night of 26/11. The ten then split into groups and targeted multiple locations in Mumbai – two luxury hotels, a cafe, a train station and a hospital.
That the terrorists were able to land in Mumbai undetected by the authorities was seen as a major weakness in India’s coastal security system and efforts have been made since to plug the gaps. After the Mumbai attacks, the Indian navy was designated responsible for overall maritime security, including offshore and coastal security. The Indian Coast Guard was designated as responsible for coastal security in territorial waters.
Procedures in place to safeguard India’s entire 7516.6 km coastline besides its exclusive economic zone will be put to test during the exercise, the navy statement said. “Exercise Sea Vigil aims to comprehensively and holistically validate the efficacy of the measures taken since ‘26/11,’" it said,
“While smaller exercises are conducted in coastal states on a biannual basis, including combined exercises amongst adjoining states, the conduct of a security exercise at a national-level is perhaps the first of its kind," the statement said.
“Seaward monitoring during the exercise will entail patrolling off the coast, in Offshore Development Areas and off our islands" by the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard, supported by the State Marine Police, it said. Intelligence inputs gathered from various sources will also be used. On the other hand, shore-based monitoring will include vigil by the State Police with fisheries’ department officials keeping a close eye on fishing vessels’ docking sites and points where catches of fish are unloaded. Ports will be monitored by the respective port authorities, the statement said.
“The exercise aims to simultaneously activate the coastal security mechanism across all States and Union Territories," the statement said adding “the exercise will also go deeper, being spread over seaward, coastal, and hinterland areas."
“Evaluation of critical areas and processes, including inter-agency coordination, information sharing and technical surveillance will be undertaken," the statement said. “Multi agency audit and identification of gaps, shortfalls and incorporation of lessons learnt into Standard Operating Procedures are also the desired outcomes," it said.
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