NEW DELHI: The Union government is expected to soon roll out a “coastal vibrant villages” programme to engage with the local communities living along India’s nearly 6,500-km long coastline, a senior officer said on Monday.
This will be on the lines of the Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP) launched by the Centre for the people living in villages along India’s land borders in the north, apart from other areas.
CISF Director General (DG) Praveer Ranjan informed reporters about this during a press conference held here to announce the second edition of their coastal cyclothon from January 28.
He said maritime and coastal security is a major “focus area” for the central government, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also stressed the need to strengthen this during the DG/IG police conference held in Chhattisgarh in 2025.
“We achieved great success during the first edition of the CISF cyclothon that was held last year. It has come about as a very positive programme, and the state authorities gave us encouraging feedback when the cyclists reached their areas,” the DG said.
Our coasts, he said, are “very porous” and the government of India has chalked out a systematic plan to reach out to all such locations and people in coordination with all agencies and stakeholders.
“The government is soon expected to come out with a coastal vibrant villages programme like the one being implemented for our land borders. The CISF will also adopt 52 coastal villages as part of this initiative,” Ranjan said.
By this outreach through the cyclothon, the DG added, “We get a lot of information, and as CISF has recently been designated as an RSO (recognised security organisation) for seaports security, we plan to engage more and more people who live along our coastline”.
Hence, this year, we have again planned to launch this cyclothon from January 28 to February 22, and we have also written to the states for their cooperation, he said.
Ranjan said the force was working to initiate welfare and community works in the coastal villages adopted by it by teaming up with their partners, such as ONGC, Ports Authority of India and various oil companies under the CSR (corporate social responsibility) route.
Replying to a question, the DG said the security at major seaports of the country will be “on par” with what is available at the airports.
The security of seaports will be on a “hybrid” model where core duties like controlling access to the facility will be done by the CISF while non-core duties will be rendered by the private staff, he said.
India has more than 230 seaports, out of which 78 are categorised as “exim ports” for import and export of goods. At present, the force guards 12 major seaports and one minor port.
Ranjan said the RSO designation will allow the force to do all the planning and assessment for seaports, train private security staff, even as a Bureau of Port Security (BOPS) will be created by the Union government in the near future.
“We are creating a new vertical for port security in CISF for which we will require about 10,000-12,000 more personnel. We hope to get the government’s sanction for raising this strength soon,” Ranjan said.
According to official data, about 18 per cent of the country’s population lives in coastal districts and around 95 per cent of India’s trade by volume, and 70 per cent by value, moves through the maritime route. (PTI)