Times of India:
Lucknow: Wednesday, March 05, 2014.
Former
Naval chief Admiral DK Joshi may have set the right precedent by stepping down
from his post following eruption of fire on February 26 on board submarine INS
Sindhuratna, around 40 nautical miles off Mumbai, but the same quantum of
seriousness seems to be missing from the Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala - the
breeding ground of officers - where training facilities are yet to be
completed, and it may take at least four years for the necessary infrastructure
to be fully established. RTI documents in possession of TOI reveal that apart
from the infrastructure woes, housing problems of officers and sailors at INA,
Ezhimala also haunts the men in white and the prospective officers.
As
per the documents, till 1954, the training of Indian naval officers was done at
Dartmouth (United Kingdom). "After independence, Indian Navy started
ab-initio training of the cadets from a makeshift facility. The facility needed
to grow in order to encompass the charging requirements of the Navy, which was
said to modernise. A better facility was considered essential.
The
above factors necessitated shifting of the academy of INS Mandovi from Kochi in
January 1986, till a permanent set-up could be created. In January 2009, the
Naval Academy shifted to the current location at Ezhimala. The training
facility was needed in order to provide a suitable and well-equipped
environment for the ab-initio training of the cadets as also to cater to train
large number of officers being inducted to meet the manpower requirements for
the growing Navy," reads the RTI reply.
The
project overlay allocation for the Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala is Rs 1062.6
crore.The project pertaining to INA, Ezhimala is covered in two phases. The
broad objective of Phase-1 was to set up facilities to train 600 trainees,
which was revised to 750 trainees. Phase-2 aims to increase the strength to
1200 trainees. "Phase-1 is scheduled to be completed by December 2015,
while phase-2 by April 2018," reveals the RTI reply and adds that as many
as 15 firms were assigned the task of construction work pertaining to the INA,
Ezhimala, while 71 bidders participated for the works.
Apart
from this, housing shortage is staring the INA Ezhimala as well, as 79 sailors
and 31 civilians are residing outside the naval base, Ezhimala. The sanctioned
strength of officers is 180, sailors - 429 and civilians - 393. As many as 144
houses of officers and 716 houses for sailors and civilians are currently
available.What is interesting is the fact that the swimming pool of the academy
became functional in 2007, almost two years before the academy was eventually
shifted to its current location.
Navy's
peacetime casualties overshadow wartime losses: The Indian Navy in a RTI reply
admitted, "Three ships have been lost/destroyed since August 15, 1947.
These include INS Khukri (missile corvette) on December 9, 1971; INS Andaman
(ASW corvette) on August 21, 1990 and INS Prahar (missile boat) on April 22,
2006."
While
INS Khukri was lost during war time, INS Andaman and INS Prahar have been
peacetime causality. INS Khukri was lost because it sank at sea and could not
be salvaged.The total loss of human lives in naval vessels getting
lost/destroyed is 237.
This
includes 204 in INS Khukri, 15 in INS Andaman and 18 in INS Sindhurakshak
(submarine), which suffered extensive damages at Mumbai on August 14, 2013.The
RTI reply further states, "In addition to the above, following had
suffered extensive damages in accident/collision, but are not classified as
lost or destroyed. These include: INS Agray (ASW craft), which met with an
accident at sea and was extensively damaged on February 5, 2004. The ship was
salvaged and subsequently made operational." Similarly, on January 30 INS
Vindhyagiri (Frigate) collided with a merchant ship in Mumbai harbour resulting
in a major fire onboard.
The
ship was salvaged and thereafter decommissioned. On August 14, 2013, INS
Sindhurakshak (submarine) met with an accident while berthed alongside in Mumbai
harbour.
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