The Indian Navy has decided to re-auction the country's first aircraft carrier INS Vikrant after nearly 15 years of futile efforts to convert the decommissioned ship into a permanent museum, a top navy official said Tuesday.
"It is sad. But yes, we have initiated the process to e-auction it after the Maharashtra government communicated to us that they are not in a position to convert her into a permanent museum," Western Naval Command chief Vice-Admiral Shekhar Sinha said here.
The announcement to auction INS Vikrant on an "as is where is basis" came ironically on the eve of the Navy Day celebrations.
Earlier, the carrier was auctioned for Rs.58 million (Rs.5.80 crore) in 1999, but was saved from being condemned to the scrapyard after the intervention of then Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.
