Donny Michael appointed as Coast Guard Commander of the Eastern Seaboard at Vizag

Hyderabad: The Government of India has approved the elevation of Coast Guard Regional Commander East, Inspector General (IG) Donny Michael, as the Additional Director General (ADG) with effect from Sep 29. On promotion, the flag officer will assume charge as the Coast Guard Commander of the Eastern Seaboard at Visakhapatnam.

IG Donny Michael assumed command of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Region East, in November 2023. In less than a year under his command, the Eastern Region of Indian Coast Guard saw multiple operations.

The most notable among them being the swift response during the large scale flood situation in Chennai and Tuticorin, coordination of the oil spill response at Ennore in December 2023 along with the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, prevention of illegal immigration and successful seizure of contrabands including narcotics near the India - Sri Lanka maritime boundary.

The Eastern Region also witnessed accelerated infrastructure growth such as the inauguration of a new ‘state of the art’ Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) and the Regional Marine Pollution Response Centre (RMPRC) in Chennai and the commissioning of the Coast Guard Air Enclave in Puducherry.

Inspector General Donny Michael joined the ICG on July, 6, 1990 on completion of his graduation from the Loyola College, Chennai. He underwent the specialist course on Navigation and Direction from the Indian Navy’s Navigation Direction School, Kochi.

He completed Masters in Maritime Affairs from the World Maritime University, Sweden besides completing LLB from the Delhi University.

As Coast Guard Commander, Eastern Seaboard, the flag officer will be the administrative authority for two ICG regions namely Coast Guard Region East covering the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and the ICG Region North East, covering the states of West Bengal and Odisha.

His vast duties as Coast Guard Commander Eastern Seaboard will include overseeing the ICG operations, infrastructure growth, capacity augmentation, policy matters and welfare activities in the ICG units along the entire eastern seaboard of India.