New Delhi (NVI): The Supreme Court today rejected a plea to stop dismantling of aircraft carrier INS Viraat, saying that the petition was too late.
During the hearing, the top court said that 40 per cent of the ship had already been dismantled and that it will not interfere with the dismantling as somebody had paid for it.
Pertinent to mention here that the battle to save the decades-old Navy career was on for more than a year. A Mumbai-based company – Envitech was making efforts to turn it into a maritime museum and was hoping to buy it from Shree Ram ship breakers in Gujarat’s Alang for approximately Rs 110 crore.
The ship was sold to Shree Ram shipbreakers for ₹ 35.8 crore after it was decommissioned.
INS Viraat served the country for three decades after its stint with the Royal Navy in the British Period. It was towed into the shipyards of Gujarat’s Alang in September last year, where the dismantling process had started.
The Apex court had ordered a freeze on the dismantling process in an earlier hearing.
Envitech, the petitioner, had argued that even though 40 per cent of the ship is dismantled, it can be repaired and used as a museum. It had said that if the iconic ship is dismantled, “it would be a national loss”.
-ARK
