PANAJI
Barely a day after the Coastal Police at Talpona was found ill-equipped and without a boat to intercept Karnataka fishing trawlers off the Canacona coast, the State government sanctioned a Rs 5.25 crore state-of-the-art high-tech interceptor vessel for the Coastal police.
This vessel will be helpful for the Coastal police to keep vigil across the 105-km coastal area of the State.
Home Department Under Secretary Pritidas Gaonkar issued a sanction order for the high-tech interceptor vessel on behalf of the Governor on Friday.
The Coastal police is responsible for guarding the 105-km coastal area and the riverine areas. At present, the Coastal police has nine interceptor vessels, comprising six boats (12-tonne capacity) and three boats (6-tonne capacity).
It is reported that these boats are not in working condition for want of maintenance and the government is planning an annual maintenance contract of these boats.
In the absence of their own vessels, the Coastal Police have been compelled to travel in local fishing boats in a bid to stop fishing by inter-state vessels in Goa’s territorial waters, as had been the case off Talpona on Thursday.
Since these fishing vessels are incapable of going beyond 5 nautical miles into the sea, the Coastal Police have been demanding vessels with a higher capacity.
The Goa Police had sent a proposal to the government to purchase a 15-mtr-long high-capacity interceptor vessel at a cost of about Rs 5.25 crore.
This high-tech interceptor vessel, to be built by Goa Shipyard Limited as per approval of the Goa government, will have a top speed of 32-35 nautical miles per hour. The vessel will be capable of travelling in shallow and deep waters.
The vessel will have a provision to fit in Light Machine Guns (LMG) and will have a locker facility to store arms and ammunition.
The vessel will be equipped with radar facility, ecosounder, communication and magnetic compass, VHF, police radio, walky-talky, marine and night vision binocular and other hi-tech facilities.
