The Coast Guard has increased vigil along the West Bengal and Odisha coasts after intelligence inputs of possible sea-borne strikes by terrorists during the ongoing festive season. K R Nautiyal, inspector general, Coast Guard North East Region, directed all district commanders to remain alert and respond to any situation that may arise due to the crisis along India’s western border. “Commanders of the Coast Guard district headquarters at Haldia and Paradip and commanding officers of Coast Guard air squadrons at Gopalpur, Fraserganj, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata attended a two day works conference in Kolkata during which the situation was discussed,” said Deputy Commandant Avinandan Mitra of the NE Region headquarters. The performance of the Coast Guard was also assessed during the conference and it emerged that the headquarters had maintained 1,256 ship days in the last year. This amounts to patrolling by at least three ships per day. The air squadrons at Kolkata and Bhubaneshwar also clocked 3,243 flying hours for coastal surveillance that amounts to more than nine hours per day. “More than 250 precious lives were saved at sea from stranded fishing boats in the first ever Indo-Bangla joint search and rescue mission in August 2016. Two coastal security exercises with the state establishments and other agencies were carried out to keep the coastal security system fully operational. Apart from this, 65 community interaction programs were carried out in all fishing hamlets of West Bengal and Odisha to sensitize fishermen about safety at sea and various laws governing them,” Mitra added.
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