Has the Govt forgotten the horror of 26/11?

New Delhi: The Mumbai terror attacks had forced the government to review security measures in order to avert a repeat of 26/11 and as much as Rs 6000 crore were earmarked for upgrading the coastal security set-up alone.

However, CNN-IBN has now found that even three years after 26/11, many critical coastal security measures are languishing in government files as mere proposals.

Shoaib Ahmad with this special report.

There were hapless cries and seething anger after the terror attacks, but there is little concrete action after three years.

The confidential government documents reveal how Mumbai continues to remain most vulnerable to another sea-borne 26/11-style attack.

'Expeditious and time-bound' setting-up of a coastal radar chain at a cost of Rs 350 crore was ordered in December 2008. Had these radars been installed, embarrassments like MT Pavit wouldn't have happened.

In July 2011, Pavit, an unmanned oil tanker that had allegedly sunk off the Oman coast, re-surfaced at Mumbai's Versova beach sinking the government's security claims. The Navy and Coast Guard still have no clue how security was breached.

To prevent a fishing vessel like the MV Kuber from again being hijacked and used by terrorists, Automatic Identification Systems on fishing boats at a cost of Rs 100 crore and Biometric I-Cards for fishermen were recommended.

However, in fact, thousands of fishermen still use bogus IDs, with no names and photographs. Defence agencies also concede there are 56 unmonitored landing spots on the Mumbai coast and 460 on the Maharashtra coastline.

Utter confusion due to multiplicity of agencies also blinked on the government radar post-26/11, but nothing has been done about it. Today, at least 10 different agencies handle coastal security, including the Navy, Coast Guard, CISF, marine police, port authorities and the list goes on.

Confusion over jurisdiction has left India's off-shore facilities like SPMs or Single Point Moorings, which pump thousands of tons of oil, completely unguarded.

Also, the ambitious NC3IN project for real-time intelligence sharing between the Navy and Coast Guard remains in the pipeline, so too the Maritme Security Advisory Board meant to streamline port security.

Though hundreds of crores have been spent to procure sophisticated boats and firepower for coastal security and a specialised Sagar Prahari Bal has been raised, it's the systemic flaws and red tape which suggest that while the citizenry hasn't, the government seems to have forgotten the horror of 26/11.

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