The fate of INS Vikrant, India’s first aircraft-carrier, is likely to be decided by the Supreme Court in a hearing on August 8. The Indian Navy, the ministry of defence and the government of Maharashtra want the 70-year-old decommissioned ship to be auctioned to a Mumbai-based ship-breaking company in March and broken down into scrap.
But there is a determined lobby of activists who hope to see the warship saved and preserved as a museum, and are now waiting for the Supreme Court’s response to a public interest litigation filed in December 2013 to prevent the ship from being junked.
The latest to champion the ‘Save INS Vikrant’ cause is the Mumbai Press Club, which brought a group of retired naval officers, journalists and Aam Aadmi Party politician Meera Sanyal together on July 16, to express their solidarity with the cause and discuss their vision on how the ship can be transformed into a museum.
“INS Vikrant was built as a strong warship and even though its hull is deteriorating, we believe it can be repaired and converted into a museum that would attract thousands of tourists,” said IC Rao, a retired vice admiral who had served as the chief engineer of the ship from 1975 to ‘76.
Rao was one of the five Vikrant defenders speaking to the media at the Press Club, and proposed that the ship be docked in a little-used south Mumbai dock, called Hughes Dock, if it is made a museum. Since the ship has 2.6 lakh sq ft of space, a part of it could be opened for commercial use – such as hosting corporate conferences – in order to generate a revenue stream to maintain the museum.
“As a maritime nation, we should be proud of our maritime heritage and ensure that icons like INS Vikrant are kept alive,” said Rao.
The 700-ft long INS Vikrant, built by Britain in 1943 and bought by the Indian Navy in 1957, has been considered an icon mainly because of its role in the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971. The ship was India’s only aircraft carrier for two decades after it was commissioned, and was stationed in the Bay of Bengal during the war with Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
By launching a series of air raids on Bangladeshi harbours, INS Vikrant ensured that Pakistani ships could not break into the Indian naval blockade, a major step towards victory for India. Throughout the fight, Vikrant did not lose any of its aircraft.
In 1997, after 36 years of serving the navy, the warship was finally decommissioned, though not immediately discarded. It opened to the public as a museum in 2001, docked at a Mumbai port, but the museum was closed down in 2012 after naval authorities deemed the ship unsafe.
“Across the developed world, maritime countries preserve their warships as museums,” said Pune-based retired vice admiral V Pasricha, who was the commander in chief of the Western Naval Command in 2001 and was responsible for converting the ship into a museum. Pasricha claims he managed the task at an expense of Rs 30 lakh.
The Maharashtra government and the Navy, however, claimed they could no longer keep supporting and maintaining the old ship, and decided that preserving it would be financially unviable. They were ready to sell it to a scrap yard, but faced objections from activists.
Mumbai-based filmmaker Kiran Paingankar, who sees the ship as a symbol of patriotism, filed a PIL in the Bombay high court against the state government’s decision to auction Vikrant. “India does not have many secular monuments or structures to inspire nationalism in the youth,” said Paingankar. “INS Vikrant is respected by everybody beyond caste and creed.”
When the court dismissed the case in January and allowed the ship to be auctioned, the only official authority to protest was the Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority, which already has one naval ship and one submarine preserved as museums and was interested in saving INS Vikrant as well.
Despite VUDA’s letter to then defence minister AK Antony in February, Vikrant was sold to ship-breaking company IB Commercial for Rs 63 crore. It is now lying at Darukhana, a dock on Mumbai’s east coast where defunct ships are broken down.
Given its current condition, the Press Club team estimates it could take between Rs 100 crore and Rs 300 crore to re-convert it into a museum.
“The Maharashtra government has a huge budget so allocating this amount to preserve a ship that defended the country should not be a big deal,” said Meera Sanyal, whose father, late admiral Gulab Hiranandani, had served on INS Vikrant.
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But there is a determined lobby of activists who hope to see the warship saved and preserved as a museum, and are now waiting for the Supreme Court’s response to a public interest litigation filed in December 2013 to prevent the ship from being junked.
The latest to champion the ‘Save INS Vikrant’ cause is the Mumbai Press Club, which brought a group of retired naval officers, journalists and Aam Aadmi Party politician Meera Sanyal together on July 16, to express their solidarity with the cause and discuss their vision on how the ship can be transformed into a museum.
“INS Vikrant was built as a strong warship and even though its hull is deteriorating, we believe it can be repaired and converted into a museum that would attract thousands of tourists,” said IC Rao, a retired vice admiral who had served as the chief engineer of the ship from 1975 to ‘76.
Rao was one of the five Vikrant defenders speaking to the media at the Press Club, and proposed that the ship be docked in a little-used south Mumbai dock, called Hughes Dock, if it is made a museum. Since the ship has 2.6 lakh sq ft of space, a part of it could be opened for commercial use – such as hosting corporate conferences – in order to generate a revenue stream to maintain the museum.
“As a maritime nation, we should be proud of our maritime heritage and ensure that icons like INS Vikrant are kept alive,” said Rao.
The 700-ft long INS Vikrant, built by Britain in 1943 and bought by the Indian Navy in 1957, has been considered an icon mainly because of its role in the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971. The ship was India’s only aircraft carrier for two decades after it was commissioned, and was stationed in the Bay of Bengal during the war with Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
By launching a series of air raids on Bangladeshi harbours, INS Vikrant ensured that Pakistani ships could not break into the Indian naval blockade, a major step towards victory for India. Throughout the fight, Vikrant did not lose any of its aircraft.
In 1997, after 36 years of serving the navy, the warship was finally decommissioned, though not immediately discarded. It opened to the public as a museum in 2001, docked at a Mumbai port, but the museum was closed down in 2012 after naval authorities deemed the ship unsafe.
“Across the developed world, maritime countries preserve their warships as museums,” said Pune-based retired vice admiral V Pasricha, who was the commander in chief of the Western Naval Command in 2001 and was responsible for converting the ship into a museum. Pasricha claims he managed the task at an expense of Rs 30 lakh.
The Maharashtra government and the Navy, however, claimed they could no longer keep supporting and maintaining the old ship, and decided that preserving it would be financially unviable. They were ready to sell it to a scrap yard, but faced objections from activists.
Mumbai-based filmmaker Kiran Paingankar, who sees the ship as a symbol of patriotism, filed a PIL in the Bombay high court against the state government’s decision to auction Vikrant. “India does not have many secular monuments or structures to inspire nationalism in the youth,” said Paingankar. “INS Vikrant is respected by everybody beyond caste and creed.”
When the court dismissed the case in January and allowed the ship to be auctioned, the only official authority to protest was the Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority, which already has one naval ship and one submarine preserved as museums and was interested in saving INS Vikrant as well.
Despite VUDA’s letter to then defence minister AK Antony in February, Vikrant was sold to ship-breaking company IB Commercial for Rs 63 crore. It is now lying at Darukhana, a dock on Mumbai’s east coast where defunct ships are broken down.
Given its current condition, the Press Club team estimates it could take between Rs 100 crore and Rs 300 crore to re-convert it into a museum.
“The Maharashtra government has a huge budget so allocating this amount to preserve a ship that defended the country should not be a big deal,” said Meera Sanyal, whose father, late admiral Gulab Hiranandani, had served on INS Vikrant.
