Mangaluru, Oct 16 (PTI) Two hovercraft ships of the Coast Guard operating in Mangaluru have been sent to guard the India-Pakistan border in Gujarat, coast guard commander (west zone) Manoj V Badkar has said.

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Badkar, who visited Mangaluru on Saturday after assuming charge as the west zone commander, said the hovercraft ships were sent to the border as there is a more pressing need for them in Gujarat than in Mangaluru now, according to a coast guard release here Sunday.

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India has 18 hovercraft ships at present and once this number increases, they might be brought back here, he said.

Coast guard planes now land at the old Mangaluru airport. He said aeroplane parking hangars are being built there and once completed, four Dornier aero planes can be parked there, which will make Mangaluru a key air base.

Badkar, hailing from Karwar in Karnataka, said in 2006, he had served at the coast guard office here.

He said technology has advanced and the work process has changed between 2006 and now. More fishermen are getting support from the coast guard as also merchant navy ships.

Mangaluru will get the first coast guard training academy soon. All decks have been cleared for the academy, including the land acquisition process. The work on the proposal for setting up the academy on a 159-acre plot is in progress.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)