Coast Guard to have 200+ ships in 5 years, says Director General Pathania

Kolkata: The Indian Coast Guard (ICG), which will celebrate its 47th Raising Day on February 1, is eying to reach its target of having a fleet of 200-plus warships by 2028.

ICG Director General V S Pathania shared the roadmap after he commissioned Kamla Devi, the last in the series of five fast patrol vessels (FPV) built by defence PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers for the ICG.

Mr Pathania said on Thursday, "Efforts are continuing. The process of approvals and ship construction are time consuming itself. A minimum time required for a ship construction is 36 months after the signing of a contract. So give us another about five years and you will find the Coast Guard, the way we are growing, with 200+ ships."

Sharing the present strength of the ICG fleet, he elaborated, "We are a 158-ship strong force now. With the addition of Kamla Devi, the number of FPVs will itself be closer to 50. The number of the bigger ones, which are 115-meter-long, is 27 in our inventory. The other workhorses, which are the fast interceptor boats, have 67."

Mr Pathania added, "In the times to come, we are going to add two pollution control vessels, specifically meant for mitigating any oil spill among others. It's timeline is 36 months from today. The keel has also been laid. We also have approval from the government for six offshore patrol vessels, which are 115-120-meter-long and 14 FPVs, which are in the class of Kamla Devi. Altogether the figure will be close to 180 warships in another two years."