Coastline exposed to security concerns, Centre tells Madras High Court

Chennai: The Union Government has informed the Madras high court that the country’s long coastline is exposed to a number of security concerns, including landing of arms and explosives at isolated spots, infiltration of anti-social elements and smuggling of consumer and intermediate goods.

The department of border management, Union home ministry, made the submission before the First Bench comprising the Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice T.S. Sivagnanam during the hearing of a petition seeking a direction to the Central and state governments to set up a chain of automatic identification system stations along the Tamil Nadu coast to prevent the state’s fishermen from inadvertently crossing the border.

The petition had been filed by S. Gnaneswaran of Purasawalkam here.The ministry said the absence of physical barriers and presence of vital industrial and defence installations near the coast further enhanced the coast’s vulnerability.

Hence, the Union Government has proposed for coastal security mechanism - Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) since the security agencies should be aware of what’s happening in the areas of sea adjoining our coasts and beyond.The Coastal Surveillance Network (CSN) and National Automatic Identification System (NAIS) network had been established to improve MDA. However, there was also a need to tag the fishing boats and small vessels with identity and other details.