NEW DELHI: India on Monday marked the tenth anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks that left 166 people dead and hundreds more injured.

Ten heavily-armed terrorists, sneaked in through the Arabian Sea , attacked multiple locations within a small geographical area, killing 166 persons — including security personnel and 26 foreign nationals — and left another 300 injured, besides inflicting huge damage to public and private properties. Since then, India has taken several steps to bolster coastal security to prevent another Mumbai-type terror attack.

What: The 26/11 terror attack forced India to look at coastal security more seriously as well as ensure better coordination between intelligence and security agencies. A decade later, our coasts have become safer but delayed projects have ensured big gaps in security remain.

Who: Our coastline is guarded by a three-tier security ring made up of the Navy, Coast Guard and marine police of the coastal states. While the respective state marine police guard up to 12 nautical miles from the coast, the Coast Guard does it from 12 to 200 nautical miles and Navy beyond 200 nautical miles.

Why: The position of India's coastline (shared by nine states and four UTs) on one of the busiest traditional maritime trade routes and close to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Gulf countries makes it vulnerable (distance between Gujarat and the UAE is less than 2,000 kilometres).

How: Under a coastal security scheme (26/11 forced the government to launch it two decades after it was proposed), coastal police stations are being set up, additional radar stations along the coastline have been commissioned, over 200 boats and vessels will be acquired and 60 jetties are to be set up to add muscle to our coastal security.

But: Modernisation plans are running behind schedule. Coast Guard wants to turn into a 190-ship and 100-aircraft force by 2023 and has drawn up a Rs 2 lakh crore plan for the next 15 years (2017-2032) but given that the annual defence budget has seen only paltry hikes in the last few years, it's unlikely to get the funds it needs. A national maritime authority (NMA) promised by the NDA government in 2014 to coordinate the 15+ maritime agencies has not seen the light of day and the coastal security bill that will create it is yet to be debated. About 2.2 lakh smaller fishing vessels still do not have the planned identification system to ensure they can be tracked. It was a hijacked fishing vessel that slipped through the cracks to allow Ajmal Kasab others to reach Mumbai and unleash mayhem, which killed over 160 and injured over 300, ten years ago.

