Chennai: In a proud movement, the first woman captain of hovercraft H-197 Dy Comdt Anuradha Shukla and her colleague Dy Comdt Shirin Chandran undertook a 500-km journey on Wednesday and arrived in Chennai yesterday.
On 6 March they began the surveillance voyage from Coast Guard Station Mandapam, near Rameshwaram and effectively patrolled the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay area staged through Karaikal and successfully reached Chennai yesterday which happened to be International Women’s Day.
Shukla and Chandran were among the first four women to be trained to operate air-cushion vehicles popularly known as hovercraft.
This is a major step taken by the Coast Guard to empower women. It became the first force to deploy women officers in operational roles on board ships. The women officers have been trained to handle all types of situations including interception of suspicious activity boats like the one used during the 26/11 terror attacks.
According to an official press release, “By doing so, India joins a select few nations, including Australia, Germany, Israel and the United States, which have allowed the women officers to take on command roles for law enforcement.”
Anuradha Shukla became the first woman captain of the craft to independently pilot the hovercraft during operational sorties in the eastern region of Coast Guard. The team has been deployed in Mandapam in order to provide them with varied operational scenario. The Coast Guard Women officers are also active in the flying branch as they independently operate Dornier surveillance aircraft and Chetak helicopter in the force.