Impossible to man entire coast, says CSG

CSG, which has 32 marine police stations across Tamil Nadu coast, comprises 1400 personnel, 24 patrolling boats and 24 all-terrain-vehicles. “Every day, about 20 of our boats are on patrol. But we have never come across cases where fishing boats ferry tourists illegally. Now we need to put more focus on such violations and should ensure stricter punishment for those who agree to carry tourists,” a senior CSG official told DTNext. “Manapad sea opens up to the Indian Ocean and the changing pattern of waves is very fast here. Our investigation suggests that the boat had turned to the left due to sudden change in the wave pattern and the wave may have hit the side panel of the boat, toppling it,” the official added. 

Officials say such gross violations on the coast of Tamil Nadu goes unnoticed as it is nearly impossible to monitor all fishing hamlets on the vast coastline. “We can check for such violations in famous tourist spots. But if such incidents happen in lesser known locations, then there is no way any law enforcement agency could check it,” the official added. Though Manapad is an area prioritised by the CSG for their regular patrolling, sources said the timing of the incident was at an odd hour (about 5.30 pm) and would have missed the attention of the patrol team. 

Meanwhile, most of the promises made for upgradation of CSG still remain on paper, said sources. The agency had proposed to acquire 175 all-terrain vehicles and 20 more faster boats to quickly reach out to people in distress. Out of the 42 marine police stations sanctioned, only 32 have come up. The manpower is also inadequate to patrol the 1076 km-long Tamil Nadu coastline. 

The CSG commandos are trained in deepsea diving and rescue operations. “The fisheries department and local police should also look for such violations. Our area of work is mostly in the sea and we have the power to intervene, if we encounter such illegal ferries on the sea. But local police could stop such activities on the shore itself,” another CSG official said. 

This is the second such incident in the state where tourists were carried in a fishing boat flouting all norms and it exposes the lack of monitoring against such illegal ferries. The state authorities seemed to have not learnt any lesson even after 22 members drowned at Pulicat river on December 25, 2011, where they had gone on an illegal boat ride as part of Christmas celebrations. They too had hired a fishing boat for the joyride.