Decks Cleared For Shifting Navy Hq To Karwar

The Navy will move its operational headquarters from Mumbai to a new Rs 1,300 crore base at Karwar, Karnataka. A memorandum of understanding to this effect has been signed between the defence ministry and Karnataka. The base is expected to be the largest in Asia.

The MoU ends five years of protracted negotiations on land purchase and rehabilitation of displaced people. It was signed late Thursday night by defence secretary Ajit Kumar and Karnataka chief secretary B K Bhattacharya in the presence of defence minister George Fernandes and Karnataka Chief Minister J H Patel.

The first phase of the base, called Sea Bird, is expected to be ready by 2008. The defence ministry will soon start work on the base by floating tenders for setting up infrastructure facilities like power supply, dredging and roads and communication network. Altogether, Rs 580 crore has been earmarked to get the project under way. When ready, the base will host the Navy's blue water fleet, including aircraft carriers, large and small ships, and submarines.

 

Under the terms of the MoU, the Centre will pay Rs 50,000 each to the 4,779 families to be displaced. Up to two adult sons and unmarried daughters over 35 are to be treated as a separate family. Besides, a stipend of Rs 1000 will be paid to all unemployed bachelors for 24 month since the rehabilitation.

A new fishing harbour will also be built away from the naval base for which the Centre will contribute Rs 8 crore. The harbour will replace the one at Karwar and will coordinate all fishing activity in the region.

The foundation stone for the base was laid in October 1986 by the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

However, problems between the state government and the Centre over rehabilitation and land acquisition delayed the project by over a decade.

Frustrated over the delay, the Navy had wanted to shift the base to Kerala. Fernandes had gone on record that there was "pressure on me to shift the project". The project is to be implemented over 25 years, with the first phase proposed to be completed in 10. The Sea Bird base will cover an area of 24 km along the coastline from Binaga in Karwar taluk to Bhavikeri in Ankola taluk of Uttara Kannada district, about 300 km south of Goa.