An Indian Coast Guard hovercraft arrived for the first time at a hoverport in CBD Belapur on Wednesday, as part of the Coast Guard’s plan to have a presence on the Navi Mumbai coast.
The hovercraft, which will be used to patrol Mumbai’s and the satellite city’s coast, will be parked at hoverports on the Navi Mumbai coast whenever they arrive for routine patrolling. Coast Guard deputy inspector general and chief of staff (western region) Manoj Badkar said, “The craft will carry out the task of patrolling the coastline and will be parked at the hoverports whenever they arrive.”
The Coast Guard recently purchased 12 ‘8000TD’ model hovercraft from leading British firm Griffon. Two of these will be used for patrolling Mumbai and its surrounding coastline. “These craft have a speed in excess of 50 knots. It can be converted for
military purposes by installing a machine gun on the top and a few other weapons. We will primarily use it for patrolling and interception,” said a Coast Guard source. The hoverport at Belapur, Sarovar Vihar, which will now be used by the Coast Guard, was a defunct facility developed by Cidco with a similar port at Vashi called Sagar Vihar. The Coast Gu-
ard was in talks with Cidco last year when the latter allotted the Belapur facility and another plot near TS Chanakya in Nerul for parking the hovercraft. The ferry services from Vashi and Belapur to South Mumbai were operational from 1994 to 1999, which were finally closed down due to the lack of
hovercraft landing facilities in South Mumbai.