Since the Mumbai 26/11 attack, a large number of measures have been taken to keep the Seas off Indian Coast under constant surveillance and to take action in case breach is noticed. Exercise SEA VIGIL aim was to comprehensively and holistically validate the measures taken, according to a statement issued by the government PIB.
The exercise provided an opportunity to assess the capability and preparedness of individual organisations, identify deficiencies if any and address them on priority. It was conducted under the aegis of Commander-in-Chief, Coastal Defence, Southern Naval Command, Kochi and was monitored closely from the Joint Operations Centre, Kochi.
The overall aim was to test the preparedness to thwart any attempt by terrorists or any other inimical organisations to carry out an attack on our territory or against our citizens by infiltrating through the sea route.
As per a statement issued by the MoD, joint agency teams had also been deployed in all coastal districts to undertake security audit of various vulnerable locations such as fish landing centres, as well as major, minor and intermediate ports, lighthouses, coastal police stations, control rooms and operations centres.
The Navy on Tuesday commenced its largest coastal defence exercise off the country’s coast. ‘Exercise SEA VIGIL was conducted along the entire 7516.6 km coastline and Exclusive Economic Zone of India involving all the 13 coastal States and Union Territories along with all maritime stakeholders, including the fishing and coastal communities.
The Exercise lasted for seven days concluding on 23 Jan19. It was the largest coastal defence exercise off the Indian coast on 22-23 Jan 19.The scale of the exercise was unprecedented in terms of the geographical extent, the number of stakeholders involved, the number of units deployed, and in terms of the objectives to be met.
This was in fact a pre exercise build-up towards the major theatre level tri-service exercise TROPEX [Theatre-level Readiness Operational Exercise] which Indian Navy conducts every two years. SEA VIGIL has been facilitated by the Ministries of Defence, Home Affairs, Shipping, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Fisheries, Customs, State Governments and other agencies of Centre/ State.
The exercise entailed both seaward and shore-based monitoring and in addition to covering the entire coastline, also deeper into the hinterland. It evaluated critical areas and processes, including inter-agency coordination, information sharing and technical surveillance. Multi-agency audit and identification of gaps, shortfalls and incorporation of lessons learnt into SOPs will be the final outcomes.
Exercise SEA VIGIL to provide a realistic assessment of our strengths and weakness and this will certainly help further strengthening of maritime security and in turn national security.
