Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Tamper-proof number plates for vessels

Thiruvananthapuram: The State government has proposed fixing tamper-proof number plates on all sea-going vessels, chiefly fishing boats, registered in Kerala.

The decision to fix the latest “high security registration plates (HSRP)” initially came in the background of warnings from intelligence agencies that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was sourcing small sea-going vessels from Kerala for possible use as light gunboats. The government is now feeling hard-pressed to implement the scheme following reports that “foreign” terrorists responsible for the recent attacks in Mumbai had used a fishing boat to arrive at their destination. The Coast Guard had reported that unregistered fishing boats and those displaying fake registration numbers, often just scrawled in paint on the hull, were being used for criminal activities.

The security-hologram-imposed HSRPs will be uniform in pattern. It will be fixed on boats only on premises notified by the Fisheries Department, the registering authority.

The State-owned Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT) is designing the number plate.

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