The demand for augmenting the patrolling boats was raised by the agencies in 2008, after the 26/11 Mumbai attack, after which the MHA at that time had floated a tender to buy 150 patrolling boats in March 2011.
However, despite having a “price discussion” with Abu Dhabi Ship building (ADSB) in August 2015, which was among the seven companies that had applied for the tender, the government cancelled the tender in May 2016.
Official sources said that the tender was cancelled after India’s PSUs, who had unsuccessfully bid for the tender, expressed their unhappiness over a foreign company getting the tender.
Keeping in mind that the issues raised by the Indian PSUs last time, this time, the MHA has clearly mentioned that the tender is open only to India’s PSUs and has also clearly mentioned the name of six PSUs that can participate in the tender, apart from other eligible vendors.
Of the 225 patrolling boats, the MHA will be buying 150 units of “12 ton” patrolling boat, the final delivery of which will be completed by the middle of 2020.
As per the MHA officials, these 12 “ton boats” will be engaged in day-night surveillance, investigations in and around the Indian coastal waters in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal up to the area of 20 nautical miles.
These boats will be able to carry up to eight crew members and can go up to a speed of 25 knots.
Out of the 150 units, 30 will be deployed in the Andhra Pradesh coastal region, 26 in Odisha, 21 in Gujarat, 20 in Kerala, 14 in Maharashtra and the rest will be based in and around the other coastal regions, including Goa, West Bengal, Lakshadweep. These boats are being procured under the coastal security scheme phase-II.
The remaining 75 of the 225 boats, are of different sizes and specifications, including, 10 units of “28 M steel vessels”, 20 units of “19 M patrolling boats”, 10 units of modified “5 tons boats” and 35 units of “rigid hull inflatable boats”.
These boats will be able to operate at speeds of up to 20 knots at full load with the primary objective of undertaking anti-poaching operations and carrying out operations in high sea and undertake occasional voyages beyond 10-degree channel, a channel that separates the Little Andaman and Car Nicobar in the Bay of Bengal.
Security agencies officials, however, are not happy over the fact that despite requesting for these boats in 2011, they will finally be procured more than six years later.
“It is unfortunate that it has taken so long. The new tender has been floated now and it will be more than 5-6 months before they are given to the vendor. So it will not be until mid-2020 that we will be having the entire unit at our command,” a government official said.