Gujarat: Hope to convert Viraat into museum fading

The hope to convert thedecommissioned warship Viraat into a museum is fading as thecompany which purchased it for dismantling has finally startedtowing it towards its scrap yard at Alang in Gujarat afterwaiting for nearly three weeks.

Mumbai-based private company Envitech MarineConsultants Pvt Ltd, which last month showed interest inconverting the aircraft carrier into a museum, is yet to get aNo-Objection Certificate (NOC) for the project from theMinistry of Defence.

The warship, inducted into the Indian Navy in 1987and decommissioned in 2017, was bought by Shree Ram Group, anAlang-based ship-breaker, for Rs 38.54 crore at an auction inJuly this year.

“We have started the process of pulling Viraat towardsour scrap plot. It was 3,000 feet away in the sea and now itis being brought nearer. It is still 1,500 feet away,” ShreeRam Group Chairman Mukesh Patel told

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)