NEW DELHI: As many as 20 islands with pristine beaches and trails in the Andaman & Nocobar Islands, east and west coasts and Lakshadweep will be open for public as soon as NITI Aayog, headed by Arvind Panagariya and Home Ministry led by Rajnath Singh, finalise the blueprint for development while ensuring foolproof security. Of these, five islands—Mamlia, Murga, Bet Shankhodar, Alia Bet and Piram Island—are located near Gujarat coast, five near Lakshadweep are Kadmat Island, Kalpeni, Chetlet, Kiltan and Minicoy island, three islands close to West Bengal are Sagar Island, Patibunia and Jambudwip, five islands near Andman & Nicobar are Smith Island, Ross Island, Long Island, Havelock and Neil Island while one each is in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Mamlia, located in the Little Gulf of Kutch, is uninhabited while Bet Shankhodhar was earlier part of Dwarka, abode of Lord Krishna. Aliabet, currently a no-man’s land, is spread across 200 sq km in the Gulf of Khambhat. Piram Island in Gulf of Cambay is spread in 186 acres. It is known for its archaeological value, and fossils of giraffe and dinosaur eggs found on the island are thousand years old. Some shipwrecks around the Piram Island date back to the 14th century.
To ensure the security of these islands, Rajnath Singh had constituted a panel within the ministry, which recently submitted 14–point recommendations for the various stakeholders, including states and the Union Territories.
“The islands located in the West and East Coast is lying unattended and these could pose security threat. It is, therefore, essential that these islands require special attention from the security point of view besides, tapping the potential resources. Towards this all entry and exit to and from these islands are required to be regulated through a foolproof system by respective state and UT administrations,” the Home Ministry said.
Since a large part of islands identified for development are forest reserves, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has been roped in to ensure that the protected areas are secured against any intrusion and poaching.
The Defence Ministry as per the security recommendation, will task Coast Guard to keep vigil on the islands. All the islands will be mapped by the states and UTs in consultation with the department of space and a colour coding scheme will be introduced for easy identification of the fishing boats operating in sensitive areas.