UPGRADING THE FUNCTIONING OF COAST GUARDS
The Government has established a robust maritime search and rescue framework to address and respond to various contingencies in deep sea and in coastal areas of India, which includes distress onboard fishing boats and merchant vessels, safety of life during marine incidents and Search & Rescue (SAR) response during cyclones etc.
Director General Indian Coast Guard has been designated as the Chairman of National Maritime Search and Rescue Board (NMSARB), which constitutes members from national/coastal state administration/ agencies. The force levels of Indian Coast Guard has been enhanced to 159 ships and 72 aircrafts.
Further, 16 District Headquarters and 42 stations have been set up all along the coastline. The ships and air assets of Indian Coast Guard are fitted with latest state of the art technology equipment/system/sensors to enhance surveillance capability of the Coast Guard. Adequate research and deliberations are undertaken while formulating the staff requirements for all acquisition cases so that the new ships and air assets inducted are the best in class.
