First Coast Guard Training Academy in Goa

Kochi, June 1 (UNI) Inspector General and Commander, Coast Guard Region (West) A Rajasekhar today said the first Coast Guard Training Academy would be established in Goa.

Presently the training was imparted by the Indian Navy in association with the Coast Guard and the proposed academy would help the organisation to have a training institute of its own, he told reporters here.

There was a dearth of quality candidates joining the coast guard as young people were pursuing lucrative careers in information technology and engineering, he added.

''The Coast Guard has brought to the notice of the Sixth Pay Commission to look into the pay packages of its personnel,''he informed.

IG Rajasekhar admitted that the Coast Guard would require more ships and aircraft when the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) was expanded further up to 300 to 350 nautical miles in 2009.

''The Coast Guard will be opening a new station in Vizhinjam and developing Lakshadweep Islands to face the challenges ahead, he said adding an air strip would be commissioned in Porbandar in Gujarat for expanding the scope of its activities.

He said the Coast Guard had asked the Kerala Government for land to construct air wings in either Kochi or Thiruvananthapuram.

The IG also urged the state governments to equip fishing boats with GSP or VHF equipment so that fishermen keep away from straying in to the international waters.

In Gujarat around 25 per cent of boats were fixed with these equipment to help fishermen to find their moorings in high seas.

The Coast Guard had organised Community Interaction Programme in various fishing hamlets to educate them of the repurcussions of entering foreign waters and to train them in using VHF and GSP equipment, he added.

Asked about the relations with Pakistan counterpart, IG Rajasekhar said,'' we have a good relationship with Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency. There is a hotline between the two forces and relevant messages are exchanged.'' The Coast Guard would expand its fleet of ships by acquiring three pollution control vessels and five fast petrol vessels to further streamline its activities.

UNI