MV Pavit fiasco exposes loopholes in Mumbai security co-ordination



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The Coast Guard was alerted about the presence of the vessel MV Pavit in the high seas 14hours after the same had been spotted first by the city police in a shocking development that highlights the co-ordination gap among different security agencies in the metropolis.

As per the information provided by the police sources, the local police, who spotted the ship for the first, at around 10pm on Saturday did not pass the information to the top brass as they had taken it very lightly and equivocated over the jurisdictional issues, in a miserable reminder to the lack of coordination displayed during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

The Coast Guard inspector General SPS Basra was ranged up by the city police Chief Arup Patnaik, immediately after he learned about the ship being shifted towards the shore on Sunday at about 12pm.

On Sunday afternoon the Panama-flagged vessel which has got a capacity to hold 1000 tonnes of cargo ran aground near Seven Bungalows and was suspected to have drifted on from the Persian Gulf.

The Santacruz police station policemen first had the information that a huge ship was spotted in the high seas and it was sailing towards Mumbai.

From the station a police man had gone to a five star hotel and viewed at the high seas from the terrace when he spotted the vessel but he did not inform the control room.

The sources reported that, the cop instead, passed on the information to the Sagari and Juhu police stations believing that the area was under their jurisdiction.

Later the in-charge of Sagari police station, A.B. Pawar, was contacted and he said that, neither he nor his subordinates were informed about any such vessel. On the other hand, Juhu police station in-charge Arun Bhagt and Santacruz police station senior inspector Madhukar Choudhari refused to make comments on the issue.

in the meantime the questions on the Coast Guard and Navy's working pattern and not within its force were raised by the joint police commissioner, Rajinish Seth. He stated that the Mumbai police patrols upto 12 nautical miles in the sea and beyond that it is the jurisdiction of the Coast Guard and Navy, who could have spotted the ship for the first time.

 
 
 
 
 
 
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