Coastal police station opened at Fort Kochi

KOCHI: The Union government has agreed to the States request for ten more coastal police stations as part of its effort to enhance coastal security, said Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Home Minister. The Minister was speaking after inaugurating the coastal police station at Fort Kochi near here on Thursday. This is the sixth of eight coastal police stations being installed during the first phase. Two more at Kannur and Alappuzha will be completed in three months, he said.

With the commissioning of all the 18 police stations, the coast of the State will be fully secured against threats of attack, the Minister said. The coastal police have a jurisdiction of 12 nautical miles off the coast.

V.K. Ebrahim Kunju, MLA, presided. N. Ramachandran, chairman, Cochin Port Trust (CPT), was the chief guest. Commodore M.R. Ajayakumar, Naval Officer-in-Charge, Kerala and Commanding Officer, INS Venduruthy; B.K. Loshali, DIG, Coast Guard, District Headquarters-4; B. Sandhya, Inspector General of Police, Ernakulam Range; Manoj Abraham, City Police Commissioner; P.H. Ashraf, Deputy City Police Commissioner; Pusp Khetartal, vice president, Petronet LNG; K.K. Krishnadas, CEO, India Gateway Terminal and Hasina Noushad, Corporation councillor, spoke.