In solidarity with kin of personnel who lost their lives in INS Sindurakshak mishap
Stung by the enormity of the INS Sindhurakshak mishap
early this year, the Southern Naval Command will give the traditional
Navy Queen Pageant and Navy Ball a miss this time around in solidarity
with kin of the Navy personnel who lost their lives in the accident.
“It
was one of the worst tragedies we’ve had and we lost 18 of our men. We
want to stand with their families and don’t want to have a celebration
like the Navy Ball this year,” Vice-Admiral Satish Soni, chief of the
Command, told the media on Tuesday.
Navy Fest
However,
as part of its outreach measures, the Command held medical camps at
various places in the State and in Lakshadweep. As in the previous
years, it will showcase its firepower at an operational demonstration at
the waterfront abutting Rajendra Maidan on December 7 and 8. Further,
all naval ships in the naval harbour will remain open to the general
public from December 13 to 15.
“This is to
rededicate ourselves to the nation and to expose us to schoolchildren,
college students and the general public. There will also be a Navy
Fest,” the Vice-Admiral said.
Naval station
To
a query, he said the Command’s “desire” to create a naval station on
650 acres of land offered by the Cochin Port Trust from its proposed
outer harbour project was at a “very very preliminary stage” of
consideration.
It was about ten days ago that the
Port Trust informed the Navy about the commercial and physical
feasibility of an outer harbour and a refinery. “Also, they have offered
us 650 acres of [the reclaimed] land, complete with berthing space.
I’ve just spoken to CNS [Chief of the Naval Staff], but as per
procedure, we are supposed to make a statement of case, which will be
examined by the Naval Headquarters. Then we are supposed to give a
consolidated proposal to MoD [the Ministry of Defence]. They will see
the feasibility, availability of finances and if the need indeed exists
before giving an in-principle approval. Only then can we go into the
details. We have a long way to go,” he said.
Port Trust
The
CPT and the Navy, he said, desired to join hands in infrastructure
development for the project, which would be beneficial for the port, the
city and the Navy.
On the proposed upgrade of the
Naval Ship Repair Yard in Kochi into a full-fledged naval dockyard, he
said the Command had given a proposal for creation of a dry-dock and
more workshops.
“The process of evaluation and
approval is under way now. We have answered queries from the Naval
Headquarters and we understand that the matter is now with MoD,” he
said, adding that a dockyard would help the command service its vessels
better.
‘Theera vetta’
Asked about the half-yearly coastal security exercise theera vetta, he said the State authorities were responsive to the security requirements and took active part in the exercises.
“We
want to encourage the Kadalora Jagrata Samithi, a vigilante group of
coastal people, and fishermen to take part. Because of the exercise, our
response to coastal security situations improved.”
The
Vice-Admiral said that he hoped eventually piecemeal coastal security
exercises held in different parts of peninsular India and the
archipelagos would converge into a single, integrated security exercise
along the entire coast.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.