Coast Guard functioning without DG for past ten days
JPN/Bureau
New Delhi: At a time when the nation urgently needs further strengthening of its coastal borders especially in wake of the terrorist attack on Mumbai, the Indian Coast Guard is functioning without any head for the past ten days.
It is strange to note that Vice-Admiral Anil Chopra vacated the post of Director General, Coast Guard, in the end of October, but the Defence Ministry is yet to find an eligible candidate for the post.
Moreover, the current scenario raises several questions over the Defence Ministry and its readiness to face the challenges to avert the incidents like 26/11.
According to sources, the main problem lies with seniority of Navy officers. After the retirement of Vice Admiral Anoop Singh from the post of Flag Officer In-charge of Eastern Navy command, no change has been made in the seniority of Navy officers.
In addition, hectic lobbying has been reported among the top Navy officers for the coveted post. Sources said Vice Admiral MP Murlidharan posted at Navy headquarters and Pradeep Chauhan, Chief Officer, Western Command have emerged as the top contenders for the post of DG Coast Guard.
However, it is unlikely to serve the purpose of Coast Guard for appointing DG among its own cadre. Top officials said three star officials will be made DG Coast Guard.
Presently, Deputy DG (Operations) Inspector General VSR Murti is looking after the functioning of Coast Guard.
It is worth mentioning that in its report on the functioning of Coast Guard, the Comptroller and Auditor General has lashed out at the lackadaisical attitude of the Defence Ministry as well as the Centre.
JPN/Bureau
Headless Coast Guard grappling with poor force levels
NEW DELHI: The Coast Guard has been headless for the last 10 days with the government failing to announce the new director-general of the crucial maritime security force, in yet another indicator of the ad-hoc manner in which measures to strengthen coastal security have been taken since the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes three years ago.
With the defence ministry dilly-dallying on appointing the new Coast Guard chief, some part of the delay is being attributed to an ongoing tussle among the top brass in Navy, which came to the fore even during the appointment of a new chief of integrated defence staff a few months ago.
Coast Guard wants one of its own inspector general-rank officers to be promoted as the new DG after years of being led by "big brother'' Navy. "The force feels it's high time that officers from its own cadre became the DG, rather than vice-admirals from Navy. The turf war between the two forces has become even more acute after 26/11,'' said an official.
The buzz, however, is that Vice-Admiral M P Muralidharan, chief of personnel at Navy HQ, is the topmost contender for the crucial post, followed closely by Vice-Admiral Pradeep Chauhan, chief of staff at Mumbai-based Western Naval Command.
The youngest and smallest of the four armed forces under the defence ministry, Coast Guard has long suffered from neglect. It took 26/11 for the government to be jolted out of its slumber, which then promptly announced a slew of measures to revamp the country's entire coastal security architecture.
But as earlier reported by TOI, the progress has been quite tardy. Coast Guard, for instance, is making do with only 106 "surface units'', including just six advanced and 11 other offshore patrol vessels, and 51 "air units" comprising 28 Dornier surveillance aircraft, 19 Chetak and four Dhruv helicopters.
Moreover, it has just 1,714 officers, 9,196 enrolled personnel and 1,553 civilians. This when at least triple those numbers are required to effectively protect India's vast 5,422-km coastline, 1,197 islands and 2.01 million sq km of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
India's EEZ, incidentally, will expand by another million sq km or so after the proposed delimitation of the Continental Shelf, which will then make it almost equal to the country's actual landmass.
MoD officials, on their part, say plans are afoot to ensure Coast Guard can increase its force levels to around 200 ships and 100 aircraft by 2018 to effectively tackle its operational tasks, which includes piracy and the terror threat emanating from sea.
In the short-term, three more Coast Guard stations will come up at Dahanu, Androth and Krishnapatnam to add to the existing 31, apart from a new regional HQ (north-east) and a station at Kolkata. "Since 2009, an additional 4,300 posts have been sanctioned to strengthen the Coast Guard. The force will also get 12 more Dorniers soon,'' said an official.
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