BJP's prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi today came under attack from Congress as it accused him of ignoring security issues after citing a CAG report which speaks of paucities in the "inner layer security" in the coastal areas of Gujarat bordering Pakistan.
Congress spokesman Shaktisinh Gohil, a known detractor of Gujarat Chief Minister Modi, has claimed that the security of the state's 1,640-km coastline was "full of deficiencies and marked by apathy" of the state government.
Sharing the contents of a letter he had written to the Gujarat CM a fortnight back in which he raised a series of issues concerning coastal security, Gohil said he had got no response so far from Modi.
Quoting from the CAG report, he said that the Centre had drawn up a Coastal Security Scheme in 2005 while the state government also prepared a five-year perspective plan in that regard.
He reminded that the boat MV Kuber from Porbandar port was used in the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes.
The Centre had approved the perspective plan for the setting up of 10 Coastal Police Stations (CPS), 25 Coastal Check Posts (CCP) and 46 Coastal Out Posts (COP), Gohil said.
Out of that, Gujarat government had constructed only 21 check posts although not a single one of those was operational, Gohil charged. Of the 29 COPs set up by the state government, only 14 are functional, he added.
Alleging that none of these facilities have seen deployment of senior police officials, Gohil said that they were manned by only 29 per cent of the required personnel strength.
When the Centre gave money for the construction of Coastal Police Stations, CCPs and COPs, the same were constructed deep inside the mainland in Ahmedabad and Banaskantha districts.
He wanted Modi to tell him as to how many CCPs were recommended for Jamnagar and Kutch districts, which border Pakistan, and how many of those had actually been constructed.
Gohil said he planned to meet Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on the issue.
