Thaindian News

Panaji, July 3 (IANS) Officials from west side states like Gujarat and Goa met here to evolve a joint strategy for ensuring security along the country’s western coast to check the menace of drug trafficking, infiltration and terrorism, officials said.

Speaking to IANS, Goa Chief Secretary Sanjiv Srivastava said that officials from Western Zone Council states which includes Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and other union territories like the Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu attended the two-day conclave.

“There are a lot of issues which are common for the states of western India. There is the crucial issue of coastal security, drug trafficking, sharing of police-related information, issues of disaster management which have to be tackled in unison,” Srivastava said.

“This will be a part of a regular series of meetings, where states will discuss joint mechanisms to handle these issues,” Srivastava added.

The west coast of India, especially landing zones in coastal Maharashtra were used to traffic explosives for the 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai.

The 26/11 terror strikes were also orchestrated by terrorists using a jetty in Mumbai to land on shore before unleashing mayhem in country’s commercial capital.

According to police sources, the meeting would help Goa pin down the issue of drug trafficking which has begun to have serious implications on coastal southern Maharashtra.

“The beaches in south Maharashtra are emerging as the next big rave areas. A lot of drug dealers who operate in Goa are slowly making inroads in those areas which are relatively less under the police radar. There is a lot of connectivity between the drug circuit in Goa and other Maharashtra beaches like Tarkarli, Malvan, Sindhudurg, etc,” a police official said.

The official also said that issues related to coastal security and tsunami related preparedness were also discussed at the meeting.