Cops on alert along coastline to prevent influx
Bhubaneswar: Apprehending possible influx of people from neighbouring states through the sea route during the lockdown, Odisha police have issued an advisory to all the 19 marine police stations in the state to intensify coastal patrolling. The state police have also requested the coastguard to keep vigil on suspicious movement of boats in the Bay of Bengal in the state territory.
Odisha’s coastline is spread over 487 km. As lockdown patrolling has been stepped up on roads and inter-state borders to prevent entry of people from other states, the vast and unguarded sea route has posed bigger challenges for the government during the Covid-19 outbreak. The government is worried after a boat with 27 fishermen from the state and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh sailed to Dankuri on the Odisha-AP inter-state border from Chennai on Monday evening. While 17 of the men are from Andhra, nine are from Pati Sonepur and one from Krushna Prasad.
“Information and intelligence inputs have been received that several people from outside of the state are trying to take the sea route to reach Odisha by boats. We have asked superintendents of police (SPs) to alert the marine police stations under their jurisdictions to remain vigilant near fish landing centres,” additional director general of police (coastal security) Pranabindu Acharya told TOI.
According to the advisory, the marine police stations have been asked to intercept all boats and gather details of the identities and antecedents of the sailors. Cops have been asked to make special surveillance at fish landing points where fishing boats are anchored. If the cops come across sailors from other states, the former will immediately inform the district administration and facilitate their quarantine as per the relevant practice.
However, it will be a testing time for the marine police to conduct coastal patrolling in view of lack of infrastructure and manpower. “We have got only 13 boats under Centre’s coastal security scheme for all 18 marine police stations. At present, the boats are available in those marine police stations that are having jetty facilities. We need at least two boats for each marine police station,” another police officer said.
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