Navy’s Vikrant plea: Shinde tosses over ‘hassle’ to Centre

A day after the Indian Navy sought help from Maharashtra government for emergency repairs of its museum ship Vikrant, the state government t...

A day after the Indian Navy sought help from Maharashtra government for emergency repairs of its museum ship Vikrant, the state government tossed the matter to the Centre, saying it cannot afford the Rs 5 crore expenditure. Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today claimed the state is already in a Rs 90,000-crore deficit and cannot bear this extra burden alone.

‘‘The Vikrant maritime museum is a national monument and the Centre should share the financial burden to keep her afloat. Maharashtra alone cannot bear the cost,’’ said Shinde, reacting to Vice-Admiral Arun Prakash’s revelation that the Vikrant might soon land up at the scrapyard if the Indian Navy fails to garner Rs 5 crore immediately. Recently in New Delhi, Shinde had explained Defence Minister George Fernandes the state government’s difficulties in bearing the cost of the repairs.

When contacted Deputy C M Bhujbal refused to comment on the matter. ‘‘No comments. Talk to Ajit Warty, former chief of the MMRDA, who was earlier handling the Vikrant project,’’ he said. ‘‘If the ship fails to undergo repair and maintenance work within a year, the Navy will be forced to send her to the scrapyard,’’ the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command, had said on Tuesday.

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For the Indian Navy, the situation is a horrible deja vu dating back to 1999-2000, when it had to pass the hat around for Rs 6 crore — again for emergency repairs. After protracted negotiations and several appeals, the navy received Rs 5 crore from the ruling Shiv Sena government.

The decommissioned warship, which played a stellar role in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, was eventually opened tto the public in December 2001.

Apart from emergency repairs, there are other plans in store for the museum. The erstwhile Sena government had envisaged a Rs 124-crore revenue-generating plan to construct a cafeteria and commercial helipad on the flight deck.

Parichay Kumar, Superintendent of Police (Patna East), who reached the spot, said: "We have been talking to the driver of Rajkumar Yadav. Prima facie, it looks to be a case of land dispute and money transactions."

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