NEW DELHI: The government has issued directives to 9 states and 2 union territories with maritime borders to secure their coastal frontiers with a new set of guidelines to curb smuggling and anti-national activities.
According to sources, the Ministry of Home Affairs is awaiting responses and status updates, on the directive issued in March this year, from most of the states which have not only been asked to enforce stringent compliance at the ports under their control but have also been asked to increase surveillance and tighten security along their respective coastlines to curb instances on drug and arms smuggling and other illegal activities. A similar notification was last issued in 2016.
The move also assumes significance amidst the Indian Ports Bill 2022, a draft of which was released by the government in mid-2022 for suggestions, pending in the pipeline.
The Bill moves to repeal the archaic 110-year-old Act, that dates back to 1908 relating to ports, to prevent and contain pollution at ports, ensure compliance with the country’s obligation under the maritime treaties and strengthen surveillance and security.
But the draft bill which also seeks to empower and establish State Maritime Boards for effective administration, control and management of non-major ports in India has already received opposition on grounds that it would dilute states’ control over the non-major posts, currently under them. Soon after it was made public it received considerable opposition from some states including Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The latest action comes in the wake of high instances of seizures of narcotics and drugs being reported by enforcement agencies from within the country. While the drugs are used to fund the narco-terror networks illegal arms could possibly be reaching through this route to outfits engaged in anti-national and disruptive activities.
With a coastline of around 7,517 km, India has 13 major and 205 notified minor and intermediate ports through which 70 % of its trade business happens. Though we have about 205 notified ports, there are more than 300 locations along the coastline from where fishing activities happen, an official in the MHA said.
“With 2.5 lakh boats venturing out into the seas every day with an average of 10 people per boat, it has become very important to keep a strict vigil, especially in the wake of intel inputs on possible smuggling and large quantum of seizure of drugs and arms, which point to the fact that there are gaps along the coastline through which narcotics and illegal stuff is getting pushed into Indian soil.
The suspicion of MHA is backed by evidence of abandoned packets of narcotics along coastlines and seizures of huge amounts of drugs from maritime vessels in the recent past.
“There are instances of mother vessels carrying narcotics consignment often anchored at high seas in the international waters and there are high possibility of exchanges happening between crew of boats venturing out in the name of fishing and returning with those illegal stuff,” says an official of the MHA.
In May this year in a special operation with the Indian Navy, the Narcotics Control Bureau recovered 2,525 kg of methamphetamine worth ₹ 25,000 crores in a boat along the coast of Kerala. The consignment originated from the Chabahar port in Iran but the source of the drugs was Pakistan.
Although through Operation Samudragupta, launched in February 2022, more than 4,000 kg of drugs have been seized so far, an MHA official said, "It is quite possible some consignment must have been pushed into the country through maritime borders.
