Bangladesh Coast Guard

The Bangladesh Navy had been performing the duties of a Coast Guard in addition to own duties of maritime defence since 1994. As time passed, the growing responsibility and workload became inconvenient for the Bangladesh Navy, with the increasing volume of policing duties at sea taking away from its primary role. The emergence of the Bangladesh Coast Guard was the result of the growing awareness in the Government for the requirement of a separate service to enforce national laws in the waters under national jurisdiction and ensure safety of life and property at sea. Following this the Coast Guard Act 1994 was passed by the Parliament in September 1994. Formally the Bangladesh Coast Guard in its present shape came into being on 14 February 1995 and started operational activities with two patrol craft received from Bangladesh Navy. The force is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Bangladesh Coast Guard motto is 'Guardian at Sea'.

The Bangladesh Coast Guard is a unique force that carries out an array of civil and military responsibilities touching almost every facet of the Bangladesh maritime environment. The force now has a zone, three bases, 18 stations, 10 outpost, 57 different categories of water vessels and eight pontoons along with 3,339 manpower.[1][3]

Bangladesh Coast Guard unit marching in Victory Day Parade.

Over 90% of Bangladesh exports and imports pass through two sea ports at Chittagong and Mongla. Sea-lines communication to these two sea ports are the life lines of the Bangladesh economy. UNCLOS 1982 has made provision for sovereign rights for exploration and exploitation of living and non-living resources in the Bangladesh EEZ. The fishery sector contributes an important part of national export earning. A significant quantity of gas has been discovered at Sangu in the Bay of Bengal, the extraction of which has already started. Apart from these, a vast number of ships and craft of various types and sizes operate at sea for trade, commerce, fishing, research, exploration and extraction of oil, gas and minerals and so on. To exercise effective control, to ensure safety and security and protect national and international maritime interest at sea, all these diverse activities are brought under various national and international laws and acts.

The area of jurisdiction of the Bangladesh Coast Guard is the sea territory of Bangladesh as declared under the Territorial and Maritime Zone Act, 1974. The Bangladesh Government being a signatory has ratified UNCLOS, 1982.

Areas of Jurisdiction in the Bay of Bengal are:

• Internal Waters
• Territorial Water
• Contiguous Zone
• Exclusive Economic Zone
• Continental Shelf

Apart from the sea territory of Bangladesh, the government has also placed the waterways of the mangrove forest of Sundarban and major rivers up to Dhaka under the jurisdiction of the Coast Guard.

The Bangladesh Coast Guard has the following zonal command: East, West, South and the Dhaka sub zone.

• Commodore Shafiq-ur-Rahman, (N), ncc, psc, BN (22 Feb 1995 – 6 August 1998)
• Captain M A Motalib, (G), ndu, psc, BN (7 Aug 1998 – 28 April 1999)
• Commodore M Shahabuddin, (E), psc, BN (29 Apr 1999 – 29 January 2002)
• Commodore Shah Iqbal Mujtaba, (D), ndc, psc, BN (29 Jan 2002 – 29 May 2002)
• Captain S M H Kabir, ndu, psc, BN (29 May 2002 – 5 March 2005)
• Commodore Sarwar Jahan Nijam, (C), ndu, psc, BN (6 March 2005 – 20 June 2006)
• Rear Admiral Sarwar Jahan Nijam, (C), ndu, psc, BN (21 June 2006 – 8 February 2007)
• Commodore M A K Azad, (G), ndc, psc, BN (8 February 2007 – 5 January 2008)
• Commodore Moqsum Ul Kader (C) ndc, afwc, psc, BN (6 January 2008 – 25 January 2009)
• Rear Admiral Z U Ahmed, NBP, BCGM, ndc, psc, BN (26 Jan 2009 to 27 January 2009)
• Commodore Moqsum Ul Kader, (C), ndc, afwc, psc, BN (27 Jan 2009 to 23 March 2009)
• Commodore A S M A Abedin (E)ndc, psc, BN (23 Mar 2009 – 31 March 2011)
• Rear Admiral Kazi Sarwar Hossain, (TAS), (CD), ncc, psc, BN (1 Apr 2011 – 16 December 2013)
• Rear Admiral M Makbul Hossain, NBP, OSP, ndu, psc, BN (4 December 2013 – 15 February 2016)
• Rear Admiral Aurangzeb Chowdhury, (G), NBP, OSP, BCGM, PCGM, BCGMS, ndc, psc, BN (16 February 2016 – 26 January 2019)
• Rear Admiral M Ashraful Haq, (C), NUP, ndc, afwc, psc, BN (10 February 2019 –)

The Bangladesh government has started a massive modernisation plan named Coast Guard Goal 2030 to make Coast Guard a well-trained and well-equipped force to ensure the security of the coastal area. The expansion of the force manpower is also included in the plan.

The Bangladesh government has purchased four Minerva-class ships from Italy for the Coast Guard. The ships will be transformed into offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) before arriving in Bangladesh.[4] Already two vessels are in service and the remaining two were delivered in 2017.

The Bangladesh Coast Guard has signed a contract with Dockyard and Engineering Works Limited for the construction of four inshore patrol vessels (IPVs) of two types and two fast patrol boats (FPBs). Another contract has been signed for three Padma-class patrol vessel with Khulna Shipyard in 2016.[5] A floating crane also under construction there.

Coast guard ordered six X12 high speed boats which will be built at Narayanganj Dockyard with technical assistance from Indonesia. These ships are made of carbon composite and have a length of 11.7 metres (38 ft) and a speed of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph).

The formation of Coast Guard aviation wing is under process. The force has a plan to procure 10 helicopters for patrolling and search and rescue (SAR) operations within 2025.[6]

Coast guard also wants to be a technologically advanced outfit in monitoring the sea. It has a long term plan of installing Long-range identification and tracking (LRIT) and Vessel Traffic Management Information System (VTMIS) systems by 2025.[6]

• Bangladesh Coast Guard Website