Torpedoing the competition from the other maritime states in the country, Andhra Pradesh has secured the clearance from the Indian Navy to berth INS Viraat as a museum in one of its ports after it is decommissioned in 2016.
INS Viraat is a Centaur class aircraft carrier and the flagship of the Indian Navy. It is the oldest carrier in service and one of the two aircraft carriers based in the Indian Ocean Region. Viraat, meaning giant in Sanskrit, was completed and commissioned in 1959 as the Royal Navy’s HMS Hermes and was transferred to India in 1987.
Andhra Pradesh already has INS Kursura, a submarine museum berthed at Visakhapatnam and the addition of INS Viraat will be another feather in the cap of the now residuary state. The Indian Navy gave its consent to the state government two days ago for converting INS Viraat into a museum and berthing it in one of the ports in the state. Apart from chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, I too had lobbied for AP getting the ship after it is decommissioned. Now, I have requested the chief minister to station it at the Kakinada port. However, the state will take the final call of locating the museum either in Visakhapatnam or Kakinada, said Kakinada TDP MP Thota Narasimham.
The museum will be operated by the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC). We will take possession of the aircraft carrier after the International Fleet Review which is slated to be held in Vizag for the first time in February 2016. After it is decommissioned, we will convert the prestigious warship into a museum or a centre for meeting, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions (MICE) under the aegis of the APTDC, said R Amarendra, executive director, projects, APTDC.
Sources said that in all likelihood Visakhapatnam will be the final location of INS Viraat. Once the aircraft carrier is handed over to AP, it will take a minimum of six months for it to be converted into a museum.
The Indian Navy reportedly wrote to many maritime states seeking their interest in converting INS Viraat into a museum. Karnataka and a few other maritime states had shown interest, but the project went in AP’s way because of the proactive interest taken by the state government. Incidentally, INS Kursura, an erstwhile USSR-built sub, was decommissioned in February 2001 and then united Andhra Pradesh chief minister Naidu had successfully lobbied for berthing it in the state. It was converted into a museum in August 2002 and thrown open to the public. The INS Kursura submarine museum is being maintained by the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation.
Source from India Defence News.
