The Odisha Government on Friday expressed concern over the State’s porous coastline due to shortage of personnel and infrastructure.
In a videoconference with the Union Home Secretary, State Government officials said thought it has established 18 marine police stations, there is a shortage of boats for patrolling and lack of manpower to run these police stations efficiently.
Presently, there are 15 boats for patrolling the State’s 480-km-long coastline out of which 13 are in a working condition.
Home Secretary Asit Tripathy said the Centre has been asked for 40 more boats for patrolling purposes. Presently, there are only 700 personnel while 1,400 are required to man the marine police stations. Besides, the Centre was asked to share the recurring expenses like fuel for the boats.
As there is no training centre for training the Marine police stations personnel, they are being trained at the Indian Navy’s facility at Chilika. However, as operating in water is different from land, the personnel needs to be trained and a training facility is need of the hour, said DGP RP Sharma.