KOLKATA, Jan 12: Indian Coast Guard Director General VS Pathania on Thursday said the maritime force is committed to safeguarding the vast coastline of the country because it is strategically located in the Indian Ocean region.
He said that the addition of FPV Kamla Devi, named after social reformer and freedom activist Kamladevi Chattopadhyay, into the ICG fleet will strengthen the maritime security capabilities of India, specially on the eastern seaboard of the country.
Commissioning the newest entrant in the ICG fleet, Pathania said the Coast Guard is pledged to protect the sovereign maritime interests of the country in the Indian Ocean region.
The Coast Guard chief said that with the land resources getting depleted, there is a paradigm shift towards the seas for exploration to sustain the country’s economy.
“Being a maritime nation, India has opportunities for judicious use of its maritime resources to set our nation firmly on course to prosperity,” he said. (PTI)
Maintaining that the challenges and the complexity of maritime security are in no way less than the security of land territories and air spaces, he said that as the fourth largest coast guard force in the world, the ICG has performed commendably in protecting India’s national interests in the maritime zones of the country.
The Coast Guard chief commended the GRSE for delivering the ship, the last in the series of five such FPVs that GRSE was contracted to build for the ICG within the stipulated time frame.
Stating that this day, being the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda is most apt for the commissioning of Kamla Devi, GRSE chairman and managing director P R Hari said that the Defence PSU shipbuilder has a long association with the Indian Coast Guard.
He said that the GRSE built the first of the ships to be commissioned in ICG after it was established in 1977 and Kamla Devi, a state-of-the-art fast patrol vessel, is the latest and 36th ship to be built by it for the Indian Coast Guard.
“I am very confident that GRSE will be a major partner in your (ICG) growth plans,” he said in his address at the function in the shipbuilder’s fitting out jetty (FOJ) at Kidderpore here. (PTI)
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