Permanent Naval Base in TN under consideration

On Board INS Baratang, Apr 12: Establishing a permanent naval base in Ramanathapuram district to strengthen security along the porous Tamil Nadu coast is under active consideration, in the rapidly changing security environment, especially in the Palk-Bay, a Naval official said.

Interacting with newspersons on the state-of-the-art indigenous naval vessel INS Baratang, Commodore Philip Vaan Haltren, Naval officer in-charge of Tamil Nadu, said a permanent base was on the cards and land identification for the work had been taken up.

He disclosed the Chief Secretary had asked the Navy to identify requirements needed for a long-term engagement in this region.

Apart from traditional fishing activity, extending from Pondicherry to Kanniyakumari, the Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project would also demand full-fledged presence of the Navy, he pointed out.

With the Coast Guard also building up its strength, security arrangements had been bolstered with air surveillance with Dornier aircraft and choppers flying daily regular sorties and two naval ships as well as a Coast Guard vessel monitoring the sea and the boats.

In addition to the radars at the existing seven naval detachments along the coast two more, one each at Rameswaram and at Mandapam, would be put up for increased surveillance, he said.

The Navy has proposed to the Fisheries Department to adopt a novel methodology to minimise incidents of fishermen straying into the Sri Lankan territorial waters. This included compulsory registration of all fishing vessels enabling identification of those straying away and penalsing them.

Another was setting up of a Control Room with a toll-free number exclusively for fishermen in distress. The Palk-Bay has mobile service reach extending beyond the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and since most of the fishermen have mobile phones they could avail the assistance of the Search and Rescue service in case of any difficulty. This has been forwarded through the Ramanathapuram District Collector.

He said smuggling has been greatly contained and incidents, involving unprovoked firing on the fishermen, have also witnessed a sharp fall. Earlier, Lt Commander Ankur Mehta and Comodore S Mukherji of the naval detachment here, admitted that fishermen had all customary rights over Katchativu, though ceded to Sri Lanka.

In their view, the IMBL, very close to the Rameswarm coast, made it difficult for the fishermen community to confine themselves nearer to the shores.

'Not only these fishermen, but their ancestors were also engaged in fishing beyond the IMBL,' Mr Mehta said adding that deterioration in the security environment with the raging war in the island nation has made turned the traditional activity into a risk.

Fishermen were being advised and persuaded not to cross the IMBL since it exposed them to unprovoked attacks.

The radar in INS Tarang enabled surveillance up to 96 km from where it was stationed. Surveillance and intelligence gathering were integral to coastal security, it was pointed out.

Intercepting vessels with suspicious movements, search and rescue operations and firing of fliers from the naval ship, demonstrated live at the high seas exhibited the capability of INS Baratang and other vessels, engaged in round-the-clock patrolling.

UNI