A small device could have averted Mumbai attack?

Abhishek Shukla

New Delhi, Dec 7 (PTI) The Mumbai mayhem, which claimed
183 lives and crores of financial losses, could have been
averted if the governments of the coastal states have acted on
the recommendation of Coast Guard to fit the fishing boats
with a low-cost alarm system developed by Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) to send alerts during emergency.

Reportedly, it was fishing trawler M V Kuber which was
hijacked by terrorists to reach Mumbai coast. "If the trawler
which was allegedly hijacked by terrorists to reach Mumbai had
this equipment, Coast Guard would have been able to locate and
intercept it in the sea soon after terrorists took over," a
coast guard official said.

The device known as low cost Distress Alarm Transmitter
(DAT), developed by Space Application Laboratory, ISRO
Ahmedabad is a small Global Positioning System (GPS) based
fisheries alert system.

The system when activated, in distress situations, gives
GPS coordinates of the boat to Coast Guard Maritime Rescue
Coordination Centre, Chennai which alerts the nearest ship or
boat of coast guard.

The battery operated transmitter having unique
identification number can send out continuous alerts for 24
hours once in every five minutes while rescue teams track the
boat as it appears on GIS map on their computer screens.

The equipment displays time of activation, Boat ID and
type of emergency and position of boat along with the audio
alarm at the receiver's end.

Some complementary pieces of the alarm, costing less than
Rs 10,000 were distributed by the Coast Guard among fishermen
in each coastal state.

"The Coast Guard had recommended that governments of
coastal states further subsidise it and distribute it among
the fishermen communities as cost was one of the factor which
doesn't make it popular," said Captain D M Nambiar, Navy
spokesperson based in Mumbai.

Sources in Coast Guard have said that they spoke to
authorities of all the major coastal districts in the states
having coastline to make the use of the gadget mandatory.

"Our point was that if the state government provides some
additional subsidy and ensure that fishermen start using it,
we could serve them better in emergency situation. We had the
product but we are not a regulatory body and hence cannot
request for making it popular," said a Coast Guard Official,
preferring anonymity.

"According to estimates, there are about 50000 fishing
boats operating in the coastal districts of Gujarat and
Maharashtra. It is the job of the state governments to
distribute and ensure that every ship, boat and trawler has
such gadgets," he said.