Coast Guard takes on Navy for control

In a bid to get out of the shadows of big brother, the Indian Navy, the Coast Guard is lobbying with the Centre for the task of monitoring t...

In a bid to get out of the shadows of big brother, the Indian Navy, the Coast Guard is lobbying with the Centre for the task of monitoring the coastline.

However, this has brought the force at loggerheads with the Navy which wants to be appointed as the Lead Intelligence Agency (LIA) pointing out that it has the wherewithal as well as the offensive intelligence-gathering capabilities for the job.

Remote eyes in sky on sea lanes
New Delhi: The Indian Navy is getting a pair of hi-tech remote eyes in the sky to monitor the critical sea lanes of communication in the Arabian sea and Bay of Bengal.
An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) unit at the Naval Air Station at Kochi was inaugurated by Vice Admiral Madanjit Singh in January to add to the Navy’s surveillance capabilities.
The UAVs akin to remotely-controlled model aircraft are equipped with high resolution cameras and are capable of flying considerable distances slipping under enemy radars undetected. Saikat Datta

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Centre nod to canal project at Palk Straits
New Delhi: The Government today gave the green signal for the ambitious multi-crore Sethu Samudram project which would provide a navigational route by constructing a canal near Palk Straits.
Announcing this in Rajya Sabha, FM Jaswant Singh said: ‘‘The Prime Minister has directed me to say we are committed to undertaking the project and completing it in a time-bound manner.’’
Amid thumping of desks from members of Tamil Nadu, Singh said the Navy has been asked to complete the feasibility report before the onset of monsoon this year. ENS

Confirming that the Ministry of Home Affairs had sent the proposal, an official Navy spokesman said ‘‘traditionally the role of intelligence-gathering has been with the Navy and since the issue has come up it is being studied and deliberated upon at the appropriate level.’’

While the Navy has edged ahead in the race for now, the Coast Guard is banking on the fact that the defence secretary has referred the issue back to the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) — the apex military body — with pertinent queries.

Key to the issue are the recommendations made by the Group of Ministers and its charter. It proposed that security agencies be appointed as the LIAs in different parts of India’s land and maritime borders and coordinate all intelligence gathering efforts by various agencies. The combined inputs would be fed to the Defence Intelligence Agency which in turn would forward the inputs to the Government.

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Accordingly, the MHA sent a proposal to the MoD in August last year, recommending that the Coast Guard be appointed as the agency to coordinate efforts on monitoring the coastline.

However, the proposal met with resistance at Naval headquarters which is not ready to play a secondary role to the Coast Guard. Instead, the Navy contends that it is better suited for the role.

South Block sources say the issue was referred to the COSC. It is understood that COSC, which has Naval Chief Admiral Madhvendra Singh as its chairman — ruled in favour of the Navy. Defence Secretary Subir Dutta has returned the file to the COSC with further queries.