While Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson is most likely to visit India as the Chief Guest in India's Republic Day, a British trust has written a letter to both PM Modi and his British counterpart. The letter by the British Trust draws their attention to India's decommissioned aircraft carrier INS Viraat.
Going by the reports of NDTV, the process of demolishing the ship at a shipbreaker in Alang could begin any day.
The Hermes Viraat Heritage Trust suggested that if all else fails, India should allow the 23,900-ton warship to be towed back to the United Kingdom where a maritime museum can be set up. ''The Trust has obtained quotes from reputable towing experts for the long tow to the UK from Mumbai, India.'' If this were permitted, the Trust would create a world-class maritime museum right opposite Liverpool city centre, a city with a strong maritime heritage.
The trust continues to work with its India partners, Envitech, to try and convert the Viraat into a maritime museum off the coast of Goa. This plan received a serious setback on December 4, ironically celebrated as Navy Day in India.
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Envitech had received a letter from the Defence Ministry formally rejecting sanction of a 'No Objection Certificate' which the Shree Ram shipbreakers group in Alang wanted in order to sell the warship to the group. Without this NOC, the Shree Ram group, which bought the Viraat from the government for scrap value, refuses to hand it over.
The prominent new agency quoted the Managing Partner of Envitech, Rupali Sharma who said, ''unfortunately, this has now become a game of 'chicken and egg'. The seller won't sell without the NOC and now the Ministry of Defence won't issue the NOC as it claims that the seller doesn't want to sell. The clear intent is to proceed with destroying the ship.''
Now all eyes on the Prime Ministers of both the nation especially PM Modi.