Vijayawada :

If all goes well, Andhra Pradesh  could become one of the two states in India to house a national-level marine police academy. The chances of a marine police academy to be set up in the state brightened on Monday when a high level delegation, headed by principal secretary (home) T P Das, visited the proposed site for the academy at Pedapatnam near Machilipatnam. Inspector General of Police (Marine), K Srinivasa Reddy and Krishna district SP J Prabhakara Rao accompanied Das during his field inspection.

The Union home ministry had decided to fortify coastal security after the terror attack in Mumbai in 2008 and as part of it allotted massive funds to the coastal states to set up special marine police units along their coastlines. Although many states, including Andhra Pradesh, have dedicated marine police stations, the police personnel are not properly trained in combat operations at sea.

Initially, the Union government had asked the coast guard wing to impart training to the marine police personnel in their respective areas. But later, the central government decided to establish two specialized marine police training academies which, according to sources, would be set up on the East Coast and West Coast respectively.

Accordingly, the Centre has reportedly agreed for the national-level training academy to be set up in Andhra Pradesh on the East Coast. The marine IG K Srinivasa Reddy pursued the matter with the Centre and state authorities. Sources said the Union home ministry reportedly sought about 300 acres for the training academy and the revenue officials at Machilipatnam proposed to allocate a 200-acre site near Pedapatnam village.

“We have visited the site and verified the documents. We have to send a detailed report to the Centre for the grant of the training centre,” TP Das told the media after the field visit. He said a team from Delhi too would visit the proposed site before taking a final call. If granted, the academy at Machilipatnam would be the first on the East Coast.

Sources said Tamil Nadu and Kerala too were lobbying for the training centre.

It was learnt that the Centre would take into account the upcoming rocket launching centre near Nagayalanka in Krishna district, ISRO centre in Nellore and KG basin of Rajahmundry before setting up the training centre near Machilipatnam as it’s also important to safeguard these highly protected institutions.

At present, there are around 15 marine police stations in the state with about 200 police personnel working in the wing. Along with the AP marine police, the staff from marine police wings in other states too would be provided training at this national academy on subjects like strengthening the intelligence network in the waters, utilization of communication network and surveillance.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad> Training Centre / TNN / October 22nd, 2013