Vasco: Commissioning a new coast guard vessel at Goa Shipyard limited (GSL), director general of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Rajendra Singh said on Thursday that the addition of new vessels had helped the Coast Guard to maintain a round-the-clock maritime security cover along India's coastal territory. Backed by a larger fleet of ships and aircraft, ICG has doubled its presence and surveillance in Indian waters.

"We have significantly enhanced our presence on the coastline. Corresponding to our large inventory, our presence at sea has more than doubled to 35-40 ships and 8-10 aircraft sorties per day," Singh said while commissioning ICGS Sujay at GSL. It is the sixth and last 105-metre offshore patrol vessel (OPV) that the Coast Guard had inked a contract for in 2012. The ship, on joining the Coast Guard fleet at Paradip in Odisha, will be deployed extensively for exclusive economic zone surveillance.

"The Coast Guard added 17 aircraft to its fleet in the last decade and its current inventory of 134 ships is more than double of pre-2009. We have 12 offshore patrol vessels, 19 fast patrol vessels and 33 interceptor boats being built indigenously at various Indian shipyards," Singh said.

Singh said that the increased surveillance by Coast Guard vessels, "serve the twin objectives of deterrence and reassurance."

The OPV has been built by GSL and is fitted with state-of-the-art navigation and communication equipment and sensors, said chairman and managing director Shekhar Mital. The vessel has a 30mm CRN 91 Naval Gun, integrated bridge system, integrated machinery control system, power management system and high power external fire fighting system.