Click to play videoMumbai: In 1993, arms and explosives were smuggled through the sea route. In 2008, terrorists themselves came via the same route. Ten fidayeen terrorised India's commercial capital of Mumbai.
Now, six months after that ghastly attack, the state police claim to have finally gotten their act together.
ADGP Maharashtra, P P Shrivastava says, "We have gone in for the latest technology, latest weapons with better firepower and increased manpower."
As a part of this security upgradation, 12 new coastal police stations will be set up along the four coastal districts and two commissionerates of Maharashtra.
The 54 landing points in Mumbai will be specifically manned.
Police have recruited 932 personnel to man the 720 km stretch of Maharashtra's coast of which 235 will be technical experts for handling and repairing speedboats, radars, engines and global positioning systems.
The government has sanctioned 24 new speed boats for coastal manning and 25 trawlers for manning high seas. Eighteen trawlers will also be hired.
"The man behind the machine is extremely important and that is why we emphasise that training should be top notch. Whether new equipment has come or not, we will train our personnel. What we have is good, but when the new equipment arrives, it will be better," says P P Shrivastava.
The first phase of a month-long training being imparted to the personnel is already over. The cadres will now be trained in joint operations with the Coast Guard and Navy. The police will also try and develop an intelligence network amongst fishermen who'll be given identity cards.
But how effective all these measures will be? Everything primarily depends on its implementation.
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