DNA: Civic body beats retreat over INS Vikrant project: December 23, 2008

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has pulled out of the INS Vikrant Museum project after it was denied permission by the environment ministry for reclaiming land from the sea for construction of approach road. The civic body has decided to pay Rs10 crore to the director-general of naval projects, thus leaving it to the navy to take the project forward.The state government had decided to turn the aircraft carrier (INS Vikrant) into a marine museum after it was declared retired from naval services. Vikrant will be anchored at the Sasoon dock, Colaba for visitors. A separate committee under the chairmanship of the director-general of naval projects was set up for the museum project. The BMC, Mumbai Port Trust, MMRDA and other government authorities had decided to contribute to the project.

Earlier, the BMC decided to construct approach roads and other infrastructure instead of giving Rs10 crore for the project. The decision was taken in a meeting on August 21, 2004.

There are two approach roads for the INS Vikrant – one from the Colaba pumping station and the other from Shaheed Bhagat Singh Road through the Colaba bus depot. The first one, from the Colaba pumping station to INS Vikrant, needs to be reclaimed from the sea. Land had been acquired from the department of central civic and food supplies and the BMC had even marked the space for the road in the city’s development plan.

However, to reclaim the sea for building approach road required sanction from environment ministry, which was not granted. As a result, the BMC decided to pull out of the project.

Ravindra Waikar, standing committee chairman, said, “BMC is still contributing to the project by paying Rs10 crore. But it will not undertake project work directly.”

URL: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1216145