This story is from February 11, 2016

Coastal cop stns must be set up in Guj, K’taka: Guv

Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao on Wednesday called for setting up coastal police stations for Gujarat, Karnataka and Kerala with powers to register offences occurring in the territorial waters
Coastal cop stns must be set up in Guj, K’taka: Guv
MUMBAI: Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao on Wednesday called for setting up coastal police stations for Gujarat, Karnataka and Kerala with powers to register offences occurring in the territorial waters.
Rao told the annual conference of governors presided over by President Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi that for registration and investigation of criminal cases in coastal areas, there is only one facility, Yellow Gate police station, which encompasses five states on the western coast.
“From Jakhau in Gujarat to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu with a length of 1600 km and in 12 to 200 nautical miles, there is only one police station. We need independent coastal police stations for Gujarat, Karnataka and Kerala,” said Rao.
Rao said in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks, a number of measures had been initiated to secure the coastline. “We are issuing biometric identity cards to fishermen and other people going into the sea. The exercise of issuing the documents will be completed soon. It is observed that the Maharashtra coastline is highly porous,” Vidyasagar Rao said.
He opined that it was necessary to provide a uniform platform across states for identification of fishermen and to improvement coordination between the coastal police, Navy and Coast Guard. “We must examine the feasibility of establishing fishery monitoring, control and surveillance centres in all coastal districts,” he said.
The governor expressed concern over the absence of cellphone and telephone connectivity in remote tribal areas.
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