Navy steps up vigilance in sea

The Navy on Thursday said it had achieved a ‘very high level of coordination’ with the states concerned and Central agencies on the issue of coastal security.

“Around the coastal areas as many as 10,000 vessels travel everyday, and if they suffer it directly affects the trade and business of world economy. So, the Indian Navy has put up several patrolling vessels in the area,” said Vice-Admiral, Western Naval Command, S.P.S. Cheema.

On the occasion of Navy day, Mr Cheema, who was on board INS Vikramaditya, elaborated on the latest developments in the Navy.

He said even as China was increasingly making its presence felt in the sea, as many as 75 to 100 Indian naval vessels had been put on alert. “Due to the vigilant patrolling of the Navy, this year no piracy case occurred in Indian seas due to which some '23,000 crore of the traders were saved,” Mr Cheema said.

Referring to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Mr Cheema said the Navy was educating fishermen about the threat from sea as they were the first to notice any suspicious activity in sea. Mr Cheema also said the Navy was also planning to hold training sessions for the marine police to improve security.

Explaining about the need to have separate flag officer for Maharashtra and Gujarat, Mr Cheema said in Gujarat a lot of trading activity takes place and the state was closer to a neighbouring country, making it vulnerable; so the decision was taken to deploy a separate flag officer for Gujarat. A senior naval official said the Navy had decided to bring in 12 advanced light helicopters instead of Sea King and Chetak as they were not useful in flying for long hours at night.

He said the Navy was in the process of making 47 indigenous warships. He added that after 2018, a new aircraft carrier would be included in the Indian Navy, as currently it had only two, i.e. INS Vikramaditya and INS Viraat and the latter would be decommissioned next year.

Another official from the Navy said INS Vikrat which would be commissioned in 2018 had country-made steel on it.

Referring to the INS Sindhurakshak submarine accident, Vice Admiral Cheema said it would be scrapped. “We have learnt our lessons from this accident and listed our mistakes and sorted them out,” he said.

On August 14, 2013, a blast in INS Sindhurakshak resulted in a total of 18 naval officials losing their lives. After this accident, the submarine was taken out of water, and a proposal was made to use it as a platform for divers to dive, but Mr Cheema indicated the submarine could drown in water, so, the Navy was planning to sell it.

In February 2016, as many as 50 countries will participate in an international naval practice session in Vishakapatnam, and the Navy hoped to improve its relations with other capable countries with this exercise, said Mr Cheema.