‘Operation Sajag’, a drill involving all stakeholders of the coastal security construct, was conducted by the Indian Coast Guard along the west coast on September 18, 2023. The drill facilitates revalidation of the coastal security mechanism and bring awareness among the fishermen at sea.

During the drill, extensive checking and verification of documents and crew passes of all fishing boats, barges and craft at sea was undertaken. A total of 118 ships including those from Customs, Marine Police, Ports & Indian Navy participated in the drill.

In order to strengthen the coastal security construct, a slew of measures have been incorporated ranging from Issuance of Biometric cards for the fishermen, colour coding of fishing boats as per each state, manning of fish landing centres and access control at entry/exit check points, coastal mapping, designating specific marine band frequency for security agencies, training of marine police personnel by Indian Coast Guard amongst others.

Biometric card readers have also been issued to security agencies. Besides monitoring of dhows, island security and community interaction programmes have been institutionalised under the coastal security construct.

The day-long drill is conducted every month and the outcomes are further progressed for improvement in the coastal security construct. The drill enables to verify implementation of various coastal security measures besides bringing out important lessons and highlight trends in coastal security.

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ABB/Savvy