The Aqua Times
STATE-OF-THE-ART MARITIME SECURITY FACILITIES LAUNCHED IN INDIA
Besides monitoring maritime disasters in the region, training will also be imparted in handling oil spills and other marine disasters.
TAT Newsdesk
19 Aug 2024
On Sunday, 18thAugust, 2024, India’s defence minister Mr. Rajnath Singh was present in Chennai, the Capital of India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu to launch the newly-constructed state-of-the-art Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre building. He also launched the Regional Marine Pollution Response Centre, virtually. The centre is located at the Chennai Port premises, and the Coast Guard Air Enclave in Puducherry.
The new facilities have been established to provide a robust security cover to India’s maritime routes and serve as the centre point for emergency coordination efforts and environmental protection.
The most recent technology for monitoring distress through satellite and terrestrial systems has been installed at the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre. It also has sophisticated communication systems for the real-time management of alerts by highly skilled ICGpersonnel who specialize in Search & Rescue procedures, with the rescue ships, aircraft, and other facilities. Its goal is to dramatically improve the efficacy and coordination of maritime rescue operations for fishermen and seafarers who find themselves in distressing situations sea.
There will be an Emergency Response Centre, manned 24×7 by ICG personnel, to monitor marine oil pollution incidents and take the requisite steps to address it. Besides that, the Centre will impart training in Pollution response techniques and combating oil pollution at sea, to various organisations such as Oil Handling agencies, Ports, Government organisations, private Indian bodies as well as personnels from friendly countries. The training will be more of a hands-on learning through deployment of different oil handling equipment to provide exposure that will mimic a real time oil spill scenario.
It is the first-of-its-kind regional institution, established for coordinating response against marine pollution, especially chemical and oil pollution, in waters bordering the coastal states of the Indian Ocean Region.