The government Friday gave its nod to establishing a coastal police force to deal with maritime offences - a move aimed at removing confusion between the Indian Navy and Coast Guard over jurisdiction.

The home ministry's proposal to set up special maritime police stations to deal with offences in coastal areas was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), which was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here.

The CCS approved Rs.15 billion ($340 million), including Rs.11 billion non-recurring expenditure, for five years to launch the new police force, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters here.

It also cleared an additional Rs.3.69 billion for procuring vessels for the maritime police, which will assist the Coast Guard in patrolling and surveillance of the country's shores.

The capital for the non-recurring expenditure would be borne by the home ministry and the recurring expenditure by the defence ministry.

The proposal envisages a three-tier security, with the navy guarding the high seas, the Coast Guard patrolling 10-30 nautical miles from the shores and the coastal police securing the shores and up to 5 kilometres in the sea.

The decision would remove the prevailing confusion between the navy, Coast Guard and the shipping ministry over rights to check civilian vessels in the Indian waters.

Mukherjee said the CCS also gave its approval to a memorandum of understanding the Indian Navy has signed with the Royal Navy of Thailand for conducting joint operations and combined patrolling in the Indian Ocean.

The meeting took stock of the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and Maoist-violence affected states.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil briefed the CCS on the steps taken to tackle Maoist violence, Mukherjee said after the meeting that lasted two hours.