Coast guard berth inaugurated in Kakinada

Kakinada, Sept 18 :

 Minister of State for Defence, Mr M M Pallam Raju, on Friday inaugurated the berth of coast guard in the Deep Water Port of Kakinada. Talking to media mersons, the Minister said that the berth would be of great help to the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) in better monitoring of maritime activities along the Andhra Pradesh coast.

The security would also be strengthened, as Reliance, the ONGC, Cairn Energy and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation were exploring for oil and gas in the vicinity of Kakinada in the Krishna-Godavari basin, he explained.

The Kakinada station of the ICG would soon have a patrol vessel of its own, presently under construction at Surat. Till now, vessels were being requisitioned from Visakhapatnam on requirement. The Minister Mr M.M. Pallam Raju, said the State Government should take the necessary follow-up steps to enable the ICG to have a dedicated berth at the port. The Coast Guard station here was inaugurated in November 2006, by the late chief minister, Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.