Mangaluru: Bhaskar Rao, Additional Director–General of Police (KSRP), on Friday said a dedicated force on the lines of Central Industrial Security Force was the need of the hour for coastal security, not just for Karnataka, but for the entire country.

Meanwhile, Karnataka has asked the Centre to sanction one more India Reserve Battalion to be raised at Murdeshwar in Uttara Kannada district exclusively for coastal security, Mr. Rao said. Another IRB Batallion is functional at Munirabad in Koppal district. A national-level training academy is a must for shallow-water policing, he maintained.

He was speaking after inaugurating a two-day National Conference on Coastal Security: Challenges and Concerns organised by Mangalore Uiversity in association with Institute for Contemporary Studies Bangalore, here. Mr. Rao, who earlier was the Inspector General of Police (Internal Security) for about three years, said personnel of Karnataka Coastal Security Police (CSP) were drawn from regular civil police who do not have much exposure to the maritime environment.

Similarly, there is lack of specialised training for CSP personnel, who have jurisdiction till 500 m on land from the coast and up to 12 Nautical Miles into the sea. CSP also lacks assets for effective patrolling of seas even as it has to use others’ assets, like Jetty etc., for its operations.

The CSP, which has to focus on thwarting external intrusion at the local level, including that of terrorists, smugglers, fake currencies etc., was also concerned about other issues, which come under other agencies. While the Fisheries Department controls fishing activities, it has no infrastructure to monitor movement of fishing vessels, card readers to verify identity cards issued to fishermen, etc, and is unable to prevent bull-trawling as well as LED-light fishing.

On the other hand, protection of the vast aqua fauna and flora appears responsibility of none even as the forest department could have undertaken the responsibility. Dumping of industrial waste, chemicals and other items is also a cause for concern.

Mr. Rao said with Mangaluru sitting on a huge hydro-carbon bomb, agencies concerned appear to be unprepared to face any untoward incident.

CSP’s Superintendent of Police K.T. Balakrishna said force’s efforts to prevent LED-light fishing got lukewarm response from fisheries department in Udupi district. There is lack of clarity on providing security MRPL’s single-point mooring off Mangaluru coast to supply crude to Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve plants at Mangaluru and Udupi, he said.

University Vice-Chancellor K. Byrappa and several former officials of central agencies were present.