Fernandes assures he will stall Vikrant8217;s auction

8220;I informed the Minister about the decision taken by the state government on berthing the Vikrant at Oyster Rock. I requested him to stall the proceedings of scrapping the warship,8221; Bhujbal said. 8220;He told me not to worry about Vikrant and said he would stop the auction proceedings.8221;

Bhujbal had on Monday announced that the government had selected the Oyster Rock near the MbPT botanical garden to berth the aircraft carrier decommissioned on January 31, 1997. Since then, the controversial debate on whether to convert it into a maritime museum or scrap it has been going on.

Vikrant nearly took a second journey to the junkyard this year when the Democratic Front, citing the opposition of local fishermen to the maritime museum project at Jamshedji Bunder, asked the Navy to return the Rs 5 crore given for the project by the erstwhile Sena-BJP government. The Navy then had no option but to call for tenders for the auction of the warship and called it a 8220;very very sad day for the Navy.8221;

Following a public outcry, Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal had a series of discussions with the Indian Navy, Mumbai Port Trust and the fisherfolk. On July 3, Bhujbal had on Monday announced that the government had selected the Oyster Rock near the MbPT botanical garden to berth the aircraft carrier decommissioned on January 31, 1997.