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| MT Pavit on Juhu beach in Mumbai. (PTI) |
New Delhi, Aug. 3: India’s claim of a refurbished coastal security system since 26/11 has been blown to smithereens with an abandoned ship beaching in Mumbai’s Juhu seafront, evading the navy, the Coast Guard and the marine police.
The navy, which is the nodal agency for coastal security, is red-faced, admitting that “this (the undetected beaching of the ship) can neither be nor should be justified”. Heads could roll.
In a hypothetical situation — of the kind that the navy uses to assess threats — the MT Pavit could itself be a terror weapon, packed with explosives or biological/chemical weapons.
The chief of naval staff, Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma, has sought a report from the western naval commander, Vice Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi. The overall responsibility for the security of the west coast rests with Vice Admiral Joshi, who is also tipped to take over as the next chief of naval staff.
The MT Pavit was abandoned off the coast of Oman around July 1, and the Dubai-based owner of the vessel informed international maritime agencies that it had sunk. The 13-member crew of the vessel was rescued by an Indian merchant vessel the MV Jag Pushpa after it received an SOS.
Since then, buffeted by monsoon winds and currents, the MT Pavit drifted eastwards nearly 700 nautical miles, was passed by many merchant liners and the several navies operating in the Arabian Sea, breached through India’s three-tier coastal security system till it was noticed off Juhu at 6 in the morning on Saturday. In two hours it had beached.
“It beats us, we frankly do not know how this could have happened, of course the weather is bad — it has been raining continuously —and radar signatures paint weakly,” an officer at naval headquarters here said.
A source in the navy said nearly 35 per cent of its fleet is on coastal security duty since the terror attack of 26/11. And at any time since 26/11, at least 15 naval and Coast Guard ships are patrolling the west coast.
“Every square mile is watched. That is why we are confused and we are trying to find out how this could have happened,” the naval officer said.
In the 26/11 attack, the terrorists had sailed from Karachi, evaded the Indian security agencies, and beached near Colaba in south Mumbai before running amok. Thousands of crores have been spent in acquiring more vessels and an improved electronic monitoring system.
But the navy’s insistence on acquiring a NC3I (naval command, control, communications and intelligence) grid is yet to be approved by the Centre even after all coastal states supported it.
This is the second time in two months that an adrift ship has grounded in Mumbai. In June the much bigger MV Wisdom beached, narrowly missing the Bandra-Worli Sealink. But that was at least detected.
In the case of the MT Pavit, the security agencies were simply blind.
Only on Tuesday, defence minister A.K. Antony told the Lok Sabha: “The government has initiated several measures to strengthen coastal security, which includes improving surveillance mechanism and enhanced patrolling by following an integrated approach. Joint operational exercises are conducted on regular basis among navy, Coast Guard, coastal police, customs and others to check the effectiveness of this approach adopted for the security of coastal areas including island territories.
“Further, continuous review and monitoring of various mechanisms have been established by the government at different levels, involving various agencies, including the state/Union Territory authorities. The intelligence mechanism has also been streamlined through the creation of joint operation centres and multi-agency coordination mechanism. Installation of radars covering the country’s entire coastline and islands is also an essential part of this process. Development/deployment of assets are done as per threat perception and defence requirement.”