To prevent overcrowding on passenger transport boats and avoid operation of these services as well as water sport activities during monsoons when they are prohibited due to choppy seas, the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) is planning to set up a CCTV surveillance system at jetties and beaches.
These cameras will also keep a watch on seashores and help prevent incidents of drowning like the one at Murud near Alibaug in which 14 college students lost their lives in February and the other at Juhu beach where two lives were lost on June 11. Increased surveillance at these sensitive spots will help secure the porous and vulnerable coastline, besides aiding in monitoring of suspicious activities at ports and jetties on a real-time basis.
Maharashtra has a 720km coastline and the MMB has around 813 jetties, including the 449 used for water transport, on the stretch. Apart from the two major ports (Mumbai and JNPT), it also has 48 non-major ports.
"Before boarding the vessels at our jetties, tourists wait at terminals. This system will help maintain surveillance. This will prevent overcrowding on boats and evasion of revenues (due to unaccounted transport of passengers).
Though we issue orders prohibiting operation of boats and water sport activities (in the monsoons), there are elements who take risks before the period ends… This will help stop it," MMB chief executive officer (CEO) Atul Patne told dna. This would also prevent water sport operators from continuing with their activities in the rainy season, he added.
MMB port inspectors issue tickets to operators with the maritime board's stamps. These tickets are sold to passengers. Overcrowding of passenger transport boats and operating water sport activities during monsoons pose a risk to the lives of commuters and tourists.
Patne said the CCTV network would be set up at jetties from where passenger transport services were operated and beaches which were popular for water sport activities.
Maharashtra has 47 water transport routes operated by the MMB and local bodies like zilla parishads. Last year, around 1.80 crore commuters used passenger water transport services. Routes like Gateway to Mandwa, Gateway to Elephanta and New Ferry Wharf to Mora are among the heavy routes.
Patne said they were planning to set up GPRS-based cameras with solar power back-up. Regional and central command and control rooms would be established in Mumbai with links being providing to other authorities like the marine police and coast guard. Installation of cameras with night-vision facilities and those which can be rotated in a 360-degree axis were also being considered. However, a final decision in this regard would be taken based on gradation and budget.
Of the state's 449 passenger jetties, 391 are in good condition and the remaining 58 are in need of repairs. Some jetties predate the MMB's formation in 1996 and some sites were developed by local bodies in the 1960s. The Bandra and Mora groups of ports include 20 and 53 passenger jetties, respectively, in and around Mumbai.
The 1992 bomb blasts, for which explosives were unloaded on the beaches of Raigad district, and the 26/11 terror attacks pointed to the vulnerability of Maharashtra's coastline spread over seven districts.
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