No written orders yet to stall Vikrant auction

No written orders yet to stall Vikrant auction
Express News Service

JULY 18: In spite of all the effort put in by the state government to berth INS Vikrant at Oyster Rock near the Gateway of India, the powerful lobby of ship breakers is still trying to `torpedo' the decommissioned warship.

Representatives of at least six ship-breaking companies visited Vikrant on Tuesday morning in order to estimate the cost of the ship before giving their price quotations for the tentative auction of Vikrant.

Though Defence Minister George Fernandes had given a verbal assurance to Chhagan Bhujbal on July 4 this year to stall the ship's auction, sources said no such written order has been issued by the Ministry of Defence.

The tentative auction date for Vikrant is July 21, and the proceedings will take place at Tarabai Hall, Marine Lines. Reportedly, the Metal Scrap Trading Corporation (MSTC) has also not received any official letter from the Naval Directorate of Procurement, New Delhi, to stall the auction.

``The very fact that ship breakers have already started visiting Vikrant to guage the price of the metal should ring alarm bells in Mantralaya, but that is not happening,'' said a former naval officer.

Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said the state government had already made it clear that it wanted to save Vikrant. ``The ball is in the Centre's court now. If the warship is auctioned, the blame will have to be put on to the BJP led government at Centre,'' he said.

``I have already given a letter to the Centre informing about the state government's decision to dry-dock the warship at Oyster Rock. Even defence minister George Fernandes assured me he would stall the auction proceedings. The Centre must intervene and stop the proceedings immediately,'' he added.