In a development that marks the end of a historic voyage of India’s first aircraft carrier, 200-odd workers employed by a private company have quietly begun to scrap the long-decommissioned warship INS Vikrant at the Darukhana ship breaking yard in south Mumbai, three months after the Supreme Court dismissed a PIl challenging its sale and scrapping.
“We have deployed as many as 200 workers to break the INS Vikrant. The work began yesterday. We expect to complete the scrapping of the entire ship in the next 7 to 8 months. We will be selling the scarp from the junked ship for re-cycling purpose,” Abdul Karim Jaka, director of Mumbai-based ship breaking firm IB Commercial Pvt ltd told The Pioneer on Friday evening.
The apex court cleared the decks for the scrapping of the 70-year-old warship in August this year, after it rejected a public interest litigation filed by some Mumbai-based activists who were crusading for preservation of the legendary vessel as a war museum.
The Navy had sold the de-commissioned INS Vikrant to Messrs IB Commercial Pvt ltd for Rs63 crore at an auction held in April this year. The Indian Navy – in line with a ruling by the Supreme Court hearing a PIl-- moved the de-commissioned ship out of the Naval Dockyard and took it to nearby Darukhana ship breaking yard in south Mumbai on May 28.
Ahead of the sale of the de-commissioned warship, the Navy had moved the artifacts and other material of archival value out of the INS Vikrant to other places.
While 60 per cent of the artifacts and archival material from the de-commissioned aircraft carrier were moved to the Maritime History Society in Mumbai, the remaining artifacts have been shifted to Naval Aviation Museum in Goa. Smaller relics from the de-commissioned will be shifted to various museums and motivational centres across the country.
INS Vikrant, which the Indian Navy bought it from Royal Navy as part of Indo-British defence agreement in 1957, had played a key role during the 1971 Indo-Pak War that led to the liberation of Bangladesh. She was decommissioned in 1997 after 36 years of service.
After she was decommissioned, a museum was opened on board the aircraft carrier and she came to be re-christened as Indian Museum Ship (IMS) Vikrant. However, the IMS did not find a permanent berth, with the Maharashtra Government – despite having evinced interest in converting her into a permanent museum facility – failing to deliver its promise.
Consequently, in January this year, the Indian Navy told the Bombay High Court that the long-decommissioned INS Vikrant "could not be considered safe in its present condition” and the decision to scrap the ship and the maritime museum on board was taken, after the Maharashtra Government failed to convert it in to the museum.
In an affidavit filed in the high court on January 16 2014 in response to a PIl seeking that the long-decommissioned INS Vikrant be preserved and converted into a museum, Rear Admiral Shankar S Mathur, Chief Staff Officer (Personnel and Administration), Western Naval Commend (WNC) had stated: ”… A bare perusal of the facts will conclusively prove the sound reason behind the decision to scrap the ex-Vikrant.....I further say that the ship cannot be considered safe in its present condition and all the efforts made by the Respondents have already been stated … it is only thereafter that the decision to scrap the ex-Vikrant has been taken”.
"Vikrant's hull is over 70 years old. It was decommissioned on completion of its operational life…..At a certain stage, ships can no longer be economically refurbished or repaired. Maintenance and berthing of such ships requires heavy expenditure of public funds …. It would be in the best interest of the naval services to dispose of such ships as expeditiously as possible.” Rear Admiral Mathur stated in his affidavit.
The Navy moved de-commissioned ship INS Vikrant to Darukhana ship breaking yard in south Mumbai on May 28, following a ruling by the Supreme Court on May 16, allowing the shifting of the warship to Darkhana and ordering maintenance of a “status quo” on the issue of its scrapping pending a hearing of a plea by Mumbai-based IB Commercial Pvt ltd, in July this year.
However, the apex court in August this year dismissed a PIl seeking the prevention of the sale of the iconic warship and its preservation as a Maritime Museum.