Indian Navy’s warhorse INS Viraat, which is to be decommissioned in February 2016 may not meet the same disgraceful and unfortunate fate as that of INS Vikrant which after retiring from service had to be sold off as scrap last year after it found no takers despite being famously hailed as one of the 1971 war hero.
The ministry of defence (MoD) has initiated efforts to convert it into a museum after its decommissioning to keep the aircraft carrier’s rich legacy alive.
Sources in the MoD told dna that the government is soon going to write to the nine maritime state governments – West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat – asking them if they would be interested in taking the custody of the decommissioned ship.
Corroborating this, naval sources said that defence secretary G Mohan Kumar’s office has already taken Navy’s suggestion over this and is likely to ask the states to share a proposal over it.
“The cost of maintaining even a decommissioned warship is huge. The states will be asked how to express their level of interest, how they intend to use it so that the carrier’s rich history can be preserved and at the same time it does not burn the exchequer’s pocket,” said a source.
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