New
Delhi, Nov 30: The Home Ministry has asked the coastal states to speed up
the process of registration of fishermen whose cooperation is indispensable to
maritime security, a lesson learnt after the Mumbai terror attack.
For identification of the fishermen, biometric cards are
given to them.
Since 2008, coastal and maritime security has been
strengthened substantially by successful implementation of technical,
organisational and procedural initiatives by all maritime security agencies but
there are still many gaps in security architecture of the coastal security
which need to addressed quickly to avert situation like 26/11.
Extended in more than 7,000 kilometers, India’s shoreline has
a variety of security concerns that include illegal landing of arms and
explosives at isolated spots on the coast, infiltration by anti-national
elements, use of the sea and offshore islands for criminal activities,
smuggling of consumer and intermediate goods through sea, an official said.
The government wants fishing communities to become the ‘eyes
and ears’ of security architecture, as fishermen are in touch with their
fellows even on the sea when they set out for fishing
Till now, out of total 19,90,521 fishermen, 19,74,098 had
been enrolled and 18,60,630 cards had already been dispatched.
To verify the identity of the fishermen, the ICG, coastal
Police, Fisheries department are provided with card readers. Registrar General
of India gave 4,000 card readers to these agencies. The concerned state
governments also supplied 2,636 card readers to the fisheries department.
Issue of ID cards to all fishermen with a single centralized
database, registration of over 2 lakh fishing vessels operating off our coast
and equipping fishing boats with suitable equipment, to facilitate vessel
identification and tracking are major steps taken since 26/11.
The government is spreading awareness in these communities
through coastal security campaigns, conducted by the Indian Navy and Coast
Guard, in all coastal districts of the country time to time. UNI
