Sagar Kavach to go inter-state this year

Sources in the Indian Navy said the exercise became possible after they convinced chief ministers of neighbouring coastal states to open a dialogue,followed by the offices of chief secretaries. “Once the bureaucracy started talking,things started moving and we got the state police to communicate and participate in real-time intelligence sharing. Now,Sagar Kavach will have co-ordination between two states for the first time this winter,” a senior official said.

Sagar Kavach,a post-26/11 maritime exercise was planned as a “joint operation” between the Navy,the Coast Guard ,the police,the fisheries department and fishermen. The idea behind the exercise was to improve the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) between agencies and to fix the loopholes in the maritime security cover. Broadly,it involves one team posing as an enemy and the other team guarding the coast and preventing the other from intruding. Defined as Red Team and Blue Team,the exercise sees physical patrolling and sharing of intelligence between Customs,Navy,Coast Guard and state police with visible movement of resources including the naval fleet and patrol boats.

With the exercise going inter-state,the targets this year will prove to be comparatively difficult as geography will also pose hurdles. According to senior state officials,the necessity of such an exercise was felt as often the “intruders” and the guarding team felt “at ease” within their states and the new inter-state geography and language barrier could teach them a few lessons.

One of the biggest challenges during the post-26/11 period has been the “lack of trust” and “lack of intelligence-sharing between state governments and state police in tackling terrorism”.

This winter,it is this skill set that is going to be put under test,said a naval official.