Manohar Parrikar to states: Buy INS Viraat for Re 1, but bear Rs 300 crore maintenance cost

MUMBAI: Learning from its experience of spending crores of rupees for maintaining aircraft carrier INS Vikrant for over 18 years after it was decommissioned, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said on Wednesday that the Centre has informed all states that are interested in taking over aircraft carrier INS Viraat.

The battleship is likely to be decommissioned in 2016. "A southern state has shown interest to buy the aircraft carrier and convert it into a museum. However, no progress has been made till date. Those buying INS Viraat will have to shell out approxiately Rs 300 crore for refurbishing it, apart from the annual maintenance expenditure," said a defence minister source.

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In pic: INS Viraat


The refitting of INS Vikrant had cost Rs 600 crore in 1998 and the Maharashtra state government had converted it into a museum in 1998. A defence official said converting INS Viraat, after it is decommissioned, into a museum will not yield good returns and may not foot its annual maintenance bill. "The best option is to refit the warship. The agency that buys it can go for transforming it into a floating hotel, which can generate high income and automatically generate funds for its maintenance," said the official.

INS Viraat has been in service for 56 years, first as HMS Hermes in the Royal British Navy and in its present avatar since 1987. After commissioning the Kolkata-class stealth destroyer, INS Kochi, at the naval dockyard on Wednesday, Parrikar made an offer that any state government can buy INS Viraat for one rupee and development it into a floatel. The letters to all states had been dispatched from the defence ministry four months ago. "Any state government can convert it into a floating hotel or museum. The cost for refitting the warship and converting it will cost Rs 300 crore approximately for the agencies concerned or the state government buying it," Parrikar said.

INS Viraat was anchored at Kochi and is sailing back to Mumbai this week. "The ship is the oldest operational carrier in the world," said the official. The ageing battleship has close to 1,000 compartments that can be converted into rooms, said an expert.