New Indian Coast Guard station at Murud Janjira, to set up CG Air Station at Rat

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The the Director General Indian Coast Guard, Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, AVSM, today formally commissioned the Coast Guard Station at Murud Janjira in Maharashtra. The station had been set up and activated earlier in Jun 2010, as per the Govt Scheme for strengthening of Joint Coastal Patrolling (JCP) off Gujarat and Maharashtra coast.

Three stations funded by the Ministry of Home Affairs viz. Veraval (Gujarat), Dahanu (Maharashtra) and Murud Janjira (Maharashtra), are part of the scheme intended to strengthen close coast surveillance in order to prevent smuggling of arms and explosives, and prevent infiltration of anti-national elements through the sea route.

The station will function under the administrative and operational control of the Commander, Coast Guard Region (West) through the Commander, Coast Guard Distt HQ-2 (Maharashtra) located at Mumbai. Commandant (JG) M Vijay Kumar has been appointed as the first Commanding Officer of the station.

The responsibility of Coastal Security from shoreline till the territorial waters has been entrusted to the Coast Guard post Nov 2008. In addition, the Director General Indian Coast Guard has been designated as the Commander Coastal Command, with the responsibility for overall coordination between various Central and State agencies, in all matters relating to the coastal security.

In response to the enhanced role that has been assigned, the Coast Guard is pursuing urgent enhancement of its surveillance capabilities, so as to meet its tasks and responsibilities effectively. The present force-levels and manpower are slated to be doubled in a few years by graduated procurement, with proportionate and corresponding infrastructure development and augmentation of trained manpower.

The new CG station at Murud Janjira will play an effective role in undertaking joint coastal patrol along with Police, Customs and Fisheries Department to thwart maritime security threats. Two more stations at Dahanu and Ratnagiri have been planned for establishment in the State of Maharashtra by Mar 2011.

In addition, setting up of a Coast Guard Air Station at Ratnagiri is also on the anvil. This will be the first full-fledged air station of the Coast Guard in the state of Maharashtra, and will play a crucial role in maritime surveillance and Search & Rescue at sea adjoining Maharashtra coast.

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