'Piracy menace in Indian ocean has minimised in last 2 yrs'

"The menace of piracy had come down to a large extent in the Indian ocean, particularly at the Lakshadweep islands from 2010 due to the measures initiated by the navy on anti-piracy operations", Admiral Verma said.

He said the naval ships and the men had intercepted several pirate trawlers and mother ships near the Lakshadweep coast. "At present there was no piracy problem in the Indian ocean due to steps initiated by the navy", he said.

The Naval Chief was addressing a gathering after presenting the President's Gallantry and Non-Gallantry awards to the navy personnel at a naval investiture ceremony held at the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) here.

Admiral Verma said the importance of the Eastern Naval Command has increased manifold and many projects were coming to the Eastern naval command.

He said that under project 17, INS Shivalik and INS Satpura had been commissioned and INS Sayadri will be commissioned soon.

Earlier, the Naval Chief took the salute at a parade comprising 24 platoons and inspected a 50-men armed guard and reviewed the platoons of naval personnel drawn from various ships and establishments of the ENC.

Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command Vice-Admiral Anil Chopra, Flag Officers, Commanding Officers of various ships and establishments and a large number of service and civilian personnel and their families attended the function.