Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) has purchased a 5-tonne, 1.35 Crore Rs interceptor vessel ‘Namrata’ to guard the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Narmada District. Her name might be Namrata but she is more than ‘Namra’.

The boat has a speed of 35 nautical miles per hour i.e. 63 kmph and is equipped with night vision camera, GPS system, radar system, 2 engines that pump out 275 horse power and bullet proof glass that cannot be shattered even though shot from a 10 feet distance and the radar intercepts any suspicious vehicle or substance within 20 KM area.

Extremely impressive features but it is still not ready to patrol. The reason is a lack of a trained crew. The boat has a capacity of 10 crew members.

Officials said that the selection of the staff to man the boat is in progress, once they find the right personnel the boat will set out to patrol. Why so much security within the country you might think, recently Central Intelligence Bureau suspected that the Narmada dam and its power stations were sniffed out by Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-E-Toiba. Since then strict measures have been taken to protect Narmada in all ways.

The downstream of the river is being guarded by Gujarat Industrial Security Force (GISF) and the State Police. But the upstream where the borders of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh meet is still unguarded. The vessel arrived in the state from Goa on Monday and work is in full force to get patrolling started.