It is all for protection on seas

The conduct of this exercise has been facilitated by Ministries of Defence, Home Affairs, Shipping, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Fisheries, Customs, state governments, union territories and other agencies of the Centre and State
S Vishnu Sharmaa, INN/Chennai, @svs037 

Coastal defence exercise conducted successfully

No danger will ever come to this country from the seafront. The coastal defence exercise ‘Sea Vigil’ conducted across 7516.6 km long coastline of this country from 22 to 23 January sent out that message loud and clear. 
According to sources from Defence Ministry, the exercise saw a participation of Indian Navy and Coast Guard through an involvement of their 30 ships, 85 patrol boats and aircrafts. The coastline which saw action comprised the states of Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry Odhisa, West Bengal.
The conduct of this exercise has been facilitated by Ministries of Defence, Home Affairs, Shipping, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Fisheries, Customs, state governments, union territories and other agencies of the Centre and State.
During the exercise, all coastal police stations and control rooms, fishing harbours and landing centres, port control rooms and other operational centres of Navy and Coast Guard were fully activated. 
Security was beefed up at all vital installations and SPM’s off Visakhapatnam, Paradip and KG Basin. Audit of International Ship and Port Facility Security(ISPS) code was carried out by ports. On similar lines all agencies concerned with maritime security assessed their own organisations to identify gaps and address them on priority. 
Additionally, multi-agency teams also evaluated the security set up implemented by agencies at fish landing centres, police control rooms and ports amongst others. Critical areas and processes including inter-agency coordination, information sharing and technical surveillance were also assessed. 
Multi-agency audit and identification of shortfalls in coastal security construct were also checked. To evaluate the coastal security mechanism simulated infiltration from the sea by joint teams from security agencies agencies collectively called as Red force was attempted. 
These teams aimed to breach the multi-tier security barriers at sea, close to the land and in the hinterland. Hijack situation onboard merchant vessels operating off east coast was also simulated to check effectiveness of CMG (Crisis Management Group) and Naval Commandos. The exercise also covered island territories and went deeper being spread over seaward, coastal and hinterland areas. 
In the discharge of responsibilities of coastal security the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard conducted this exercise of such large scale with assistance of stakeholders which highlights a great level of synergy of efforts and coordination between all stakeholders.

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