Coastal radar chain to get operationalise

Nearly five years after Mumbai terror attacks brought out the glaring gaps in the coastal security of the country, the first two radars in the chain along the 7,516km-long shoreline will become operationalise in August. Thereafter 44 more radars will become operational bringing every inch of Indian maritime territory under electronic surveillance.

 

 

 

This innermost ring of coastal security, involving operationalisation of about 46 coastal radars in the Phase-I will take another year and then the Phase-II will see the number of radars going up to 110. The shore-based surveillance network will be equipped with radars, cameras and other sensors mounted atop lighthouses. With a range of about 80 miles this chain will boost the electronic surveillance capability of the force – to indentify any rogue ship approaching the Indian coast.

According to sources, the first two radars will be inaugurated by Defence Minister AK Antony in mid-August in Gujarat and Mumbai. The chain of costal radars was first envisaged in 2001 by a Group of Ministers. However, it only got the sense of urgency after 10 armed gunmen landed on the shores of Mumbai undetected and wrecked mayhem.

The coastal radar chain will come at a cost of Rs. 600 crore. The chain will also include the island territories of the country namely – the Andaman and Nicobal Islands and the Lakshadweep Islands. The radars will be feeding in the information to the Joint Operation Centres (JOC) set up in Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Kochi and Port Blair. The JOC at any point of time will have the real time information about the ships crossing the maritime region around the country along with complete history of the vessel.

Without these radars, the coastal security forces – navy, coast guard and marine police – have been ‘blind’ as depicted by an abandoned ship MV Pavit landing on Mumbai shore in 2011.

Along with this as part of the second layer of electronic maritime surveillance Automated Identification Stations with a range of 150 miles will also be set up. For it to function, transponders will be put on all boats of fishermen. The third and outermost layer consists of satellite-based Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) that can keep an eye on any vessel transcending through waters about 1000 miles from Indian coastline.

These three layers of data will be sent to the National Command, Control, Communication and Intelligence Network that will create real-time maritime domain awareness as it will also be linked to the operations rooms of the Navy and coast guard.

Pak suggests fresh dates for its panel on 26/11

New Delhi, Feb 9, 2012: After dilly-dallying for long, Pakistan has suggested fresh dates for the arrival of its judicial panel to record statements of key officials in the probe of Mumbai terror attack in 2008.

Earlier, Islamabad had cancelled its scheduled visit beginning February 3 at the eleventh hour without citing any reasons. In a fresh communication on Thursday, Pakistan has indicated that any date after February 13 will be feasible for the Judicial Commission.

However, the authorities in India said that any concrete schedule can be announced only after taking fresh dates from the Mumbai court hearing the case.

The visit of the judicial panel is crucial as it would expedite the trial of Lashkar-e-Toiba’s operation commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who planned the Mumbai terror attack on November26, 2008 that played before the world for the next three days as 10 armed terrorists brutally killed over 170 people.

Lakhvi, along with seven other planners, is being prosecuted at a Rawalpindi court and four judges have already been changed since the hearing for the case began in 2009.

During its three day visit, the Pakistani panel was to take statements of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate RV Sawant Waghule, who recorded confessional statement of Ajmal Kasab, investigating officer of the case Ramesh Mahale and the doctor who carried out post-mortem of the terrorists.

After initially refusing to accept the hands of Pakistani terrorists behind the attack despite the strong testimony of Kasab – the lone surviving executor of the sinister attack, Pakistan agreed to send a panel essentially to tie the loose ends in the case.

Pakistan has named the members of the panel through a gazette notification. The delegation scheduled to come included Khalid Qureshi, the head of the Federal Investigation Agency's Special Investigation Group, and Muhammad Azhar Chaudhry and Chaudhry Zulifqar-- the two main prosecutors.