Aamcha ‘Coast Guard’ jhopla ka?

India has always been vulnerable from the sea and I have written about it before in my blog. Sadly no one read it or cared about it! Now we have paid a price for it. Indian Navy can not and must not be charged with protecting our coast line from smuggling and terrorism besides other humanitarian activities. It is the job of the Indian Coast Guard that was constituted as the fourth armed force of the Union of India, on August 19, 1978. The force’s main function is to protect India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), covering an area of 2.02 million sq. km, and operates under the effective control of the Ministry of Defense. Coast Guard vessels and aircraft have been assisting the custom authorities in anti-smuggling operations and have effectively served national interests in high-risk areas. While protection of the high seas is vested with the Indian Navy, the area between 10 and 30 nautical miles from the shore is under the charge of the Coast Guard and from shore to five nautical miles with the coastal police as well as the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has strength of approximately 1000 officers and 5200 other personnel. The force is led by a Director General and a Deputy Director General. Vice Admiral Rustom Faramroze Contractor is the present Director General of the Coast Guard. The Indian Coast Guard’s Central HQ is located in New Delhi. Regional HQs are located at Mumbai, Chennai and Port Blair in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. India has a 7,516 km coastline.