Director-general of Coast Guard, Vice Admiral M P Muralidharan, and a large number of civilian and military dignitaries were present on the occasion.
The fifth Regional Headquarters of the Coast Guard here has been established in pursuance of the directives of the Cabinet Committee on Security, Coast Guard officials said.
The region itself was carved out of the Coast Guard Region (East) to strengthen coastal security and augment Coast Guard operations along the northern Bay of Bengal.
The region will exercise operational and administrative control over all Coast Guard assets in West Bengal and Odisha, having jurisdiction over 1.5 lakh sq kms of the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone, extending up to the India-Bangladesh International Maritime Boundary Line.
The region will be further strengthened by basing additional ships and aircraft and commissioning of two Coast Guard Stations, one each at Frazerganj and Gopalpur, and one Coast Guard Air Enclave at Bhubaneswar in near future, the officials said.
The governor stressed on the need for a pro-active approach by all stakeholders involved in coastal and maritime security to achieve the common goal of national security.
With the setting up of Coast Guard Regional Headquarters (North-East), coordination among all stakeholders involved in Coastal Security in West Bengal and Odisha would get further streamlined, enabling them to work in a synergized manner for the protection of the sea areas off the coast of both the states.