President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Vice President Venkaiah Naidu congratulated the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on the completion of its 45 glorious years of service to the nation as ICG celebrated its 46th Raising Day on 1 February.
They appreciated the remarkable role played by the service in pursuit of the nation’s interests in the Maritime Zones.
From seven surface platforms in 1978, ICG has grown into a formidable force with 158 ships and 70 aircraft in its inventory and is likely to achieve targeted force levels of 200 surface platforms and 80 aircraft by 2025.
“The force has till date saved 1226 lives at sea in last one year and 11082 lives since inception which translates into saving of one precious life at sea every second day,” stated the press statement issued by ICG.
It further mentioned that despite the restrictions imposed by the ‘COVID-19’ pandemic, the Indian Coast Guard has maintained 24×7 vigil in the Exclusive Economic Zone, by deploying about 50 ships and 12 aircraft daily.
The hawk-eye vigil of the ICG ensured seizure of drugs and contraband worth more than Rs. 11924 crore since the inception of which more than Rs. 3950 crore worth of drugs and contrabands were seized in the last one year alone, stated ICG.
In addition, ICG to date has also apprehended more than 13354 crew and over 1568 boats involved in illegal activities in our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). A total of 40 foreign crew with 07 boats were apprehended in 202I.
ICG is also collaborating with littoral countries to combat transnational maritime crimes and enhance maritime safety in its area of responsibility and in the Indian Ocean Region.
To harmonise the Maritime & Civil Aviation Search & Rescue mechanism, ICG conducted National Maritime Search & Rescue Board meeting to validate the existing Maritime SAR mechanism, added the press statement.