Mangalore : In the wake of election and Hyderabad bomb blasts, State Home Department Principal Secretary V Umesh convened a meeting of the officers of coastal districts and asked all the departments to work with co-ordination towards the protection of areas that come under the coastal belt.

Addressing a meeting at the Deputy Commissioner’s office on Monday, he said that there should not be any compromise when it comes to providing security to coastal region. The district administration, police, fisheries and the tourism departments should work hand in glove towards ensuring safety of citizens during the election period.

He insisted the officers to take local people into confidence to curb illegal entry, illegal transportation of weapons, drugs and human trafficking through coasts. The administration should be ever ready with all necessary information so as to face emergency situations, the Secretary said.

He asked the Tourism Department not to ignore the safety and security aspects in beaches by handing over the management and development work to private players.

 The Department should keep an eye on activities in the beach and must ensure that the terms and conditions are followed in beaches without fail. Stringent actions should be taken if the cases of conducting water sports, scooba driving and other training without licence, are traced, he directed.

IGP (Coastal Security Force and Internal Security) Bhaskar Rao explained the activities that could be performed by Coast Guards in association with the local people.

Explaining the way on the functioning of Coast Guards, he drew the attention of the Principal Secretary on the steps that could be taken by the government to strengthen the Coast Guards.

The IGP also insisted the Fisheries Department to perform annual inspection of boats on the lines of inspection conducted by the RTO, in order to check illegal boats from ferrying in the sea. Public committees should be formed in villages and interaction programmes should be organised on a regular basis to gather information about suspicious aspects, he said.

Bhatkal Division Assistant Commissioner Ram Prasad requested the government to appoint technically trained staff to Coast Guards.

DK Deputy Commissioner N Prakash, IGP (Western Range) Pratap Reddy, Police Commissioner Manish Karbikar, SP Abhishek Goyal, Coast Guard officer Rajendra Singh and others were present.