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INS Viraat to end up as scrap?
As the grand old lady of the Indian Navy INS Viraat prepares for decommissioning ceremony at Mumbai docks on March 6, uncertainty prevailed in Andhra Pradesh over its conversion into a 13- storeyed floating hotel.
Visakhapatnam: As the grand old lady of the Indian Navy INS Viraat prepares for decommissioning ceremony at Mumbai docks on March 6, uncertainty prevailed in Andhra Pradesh over its conversion into a 13- storeyed floating hotel.
Speculations are rife that INS Viraat which has put 55 years of services including 25 in Royal Navy might end up as a scrap like INS Vikrant.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu made a strong bid and the Union Ministry gave an option to develop it as a museum or floating hotel. Tourism principal secretary N Srikanth led a team of officials last month and inspected the vessel. After his return, the proposed project did not move an inch forward.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- APTDC clueless about the vessel’s future, despite CM’s initiative
- State govt still wants Indian Navy to convert it into a museum like INS Kursura
- Royal Navy chief, Sir Philip Jones to attend decommissioning ceremony on March 6
- US Navy has the tradition of converting important vessels as museums
Recently, Vuda made a proposal to the State government to make a township in 200 acres of land near Yarada with an estimated cost of Rs 1,000 crore, half expected from private agencies for a PPP mode project.
“It is now uncertain as nothing is happening with the project,’’ said a senior official of AP Tourism Development Corporation.
Requesting anonymity, the official said he would suggest the State government to ask Indian Navy to develop the vessel as a museum on the lines of INS Kursura submarine museum, now located on RK Beach so that the government could expand the project in the future. US Navy has the tradition of converting important vessels as museums, he added.
Meanwhile, Indian Navy has planned a series of farewell ceremonies on March 6 in Mumbai, Eastern Naval Command sources said. The Navy has invited chief of Royal Navy Admiral, Sir Philip Jones and officers who were associated with the vessel when it served as HMS Hermes before given to Indian Navy. Around 15 British Naval personnel are expected to participate, the ENC source said.
“British Naval officers who had served with HMS Hermes have emotional attachment and a team of officials recently asked the Ministry of Defence to hand over the vessel to convert into museum,’’ said a retired naval official.
