Union Home Minister Amit Shah will on Saturday lay the foundation stone for the permanent campus of the National Academy of Coastal Policing (NACP) at Okha in Gujarat's Devbhumi Dwarka district.
NACP, the country's first national academy to train police forces in effectively safeguarding the shoreline, started functioning in 2018 from the campus of the Gujarat Fisheries Research Centre.
The NACP was set up to provide intensive and high-level training to the marine police of nine coastal states, five Union Territories as well as the Central Police Forces, the Border Security Force (BSF) Gujarat Frontier said in a release on Friday.
The Centre has sanctioned Rs 441 crore to develop NACP with modern infrastructure, latest technology and state of the art training facilities in order to enhance security of coastal borders, the BSF said.
"The academy trains police personnel and other security agencies in the subjects of marine laws, seamanship, boat work, navigation, weapons handling, and usage of sea guidance and surveillance gadgets and survival skills for long haul operations on the sea, etc," it informed.
India has a vast coastline of 7,516 kms touching 13 states and UTs. It also has around 1,197 islands. The BSF release said Shah will also e-inaugurate five coastal outposts, which are among 18 such outposts being constructed at a cost of Rs 164 crore between Medi and Jakhau in Kutch district.
The outpost tower at Lakhpatwari Bet (island) in Sir Creek will augment domination and ensure round the clock presence of BSF troops in the region, the release asserted.
Shah will be on a two-day visit of Gujarat from Saturday and is scheduled to attend several programmes in Devbhumi Dwarka, Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, officials said.
In Ahmedabad, he will inaugurate a national convention of the Modi community on Sunday, they said. In Gandhinagar, the Union minister will attend four programmes on Saturday and Sunday, including an event where he will distribute sports materials to children of a primary school in Borij village.
He will inaugurate and lay foundation stones for various developmental projects of the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation and also attend a cricket match organised in Gandhinagar (North) Assembly seat.
During his visit, Shah will commission 320 buses of the state road transport corporation and also inaugurate a modern organic testing laboratory of Amulfed Dairy in Gandhinagar.
In Ahmedabad, Shah will also inaugurate a gymnasium and library in Naranpura ward as well as a redeveloped lake at Chharodi village, they said.
