Mumbai, May 14: Maharashtra government today sought to put the ball in Centre's court, saying the latter should extend financial assistance from preventing Indian Navy's pride and country's first aircraft carrier `INS Vikrant', now converted into a maritime museum, from being scrapped. "Vikrant Maritime Museum is a national monument and the Centre should share the financial burden to keep it afloat," Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters here.
Shinde was reacting to Vice Admiral Arun Prakash's revelation yesterday that Vikrant might soon land up at the scrapyard if the navy fails to garner Rs five crore immediately to keep the decommissioned ship afloat. "If the ship fails to undergo repair and maintenance work in the coming six months, the navy will be forced to sell it as scrap," Prakash, C-in-C Western Naval Command, had stated.
Maharashtra had already paid Rs five crore for the project and "we are willing to pay more," Shinde said but hoped that the centre should also contribute. Maharashtra alone cannot bear the costs for the maritime museum, Shinde said adding that he had explained the state government's position to the Defence Minister George Fernandes during his visit to the national capital.
The state government had plans to construct a cafeteria and a helipad over the decommissioned ship, Shinde added.
"INS Vikrant", which was commissioned in the Indian Navy on February 16, 1961 and played a stellar role during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, was decommissioned in 1997 after serving the navy for nearly 40 years. Bureau Report