River Princess: Tourism dept to recover costs

Panaji: Tourism minister Dilip Parulekar, on Tuesday, said the tourism department would recover from the owner of MV River Princess the total cost incurred by the state government towards breaking and removing the vessel. The River Princess ran aground off Candolim beach in 2000 and remained there for a decade.
The tourism department coughed up 99 crore to remove the wreckage.
The 240-metre-long ore carrier, chartered by Salgaocar Mining Industries Private Limited, disappeared from Panaji port's outer anchorage during a stormy night on June 6, 2000. The process of removing it was completed only in October-November 2015, even as the ship breaking company submitted to government in June 2012 that it had fully removed the grounded vessel.
A tourism official said 85 crore was paid to Arihant Ship Breakers, a Mumbai-based company that removed the wreckage, and that additional bills raised by it will be paid after approval from the law department. The process of recovering the amount from owner of the vessel would begin after the tourism department's account with Arihant Ship Breakers is settled.
The official said that since additional bills produced by the company exceed the tender amount of 99 crore, the tourism department has sought the advice of the law department. A response from the latter is awaited. The ship breaking company retained the money it earned after selling the wreck it had removed.
As per the contract, on successful completion of the work, the company was to be paid 99 crore less the amount of the sale of the vessel's scrap.
River Princess had caused ecological damage and disturbed natural wave movements.
Tourism department was compelled to allot less shacks along this stretch of the beach, and it is only last year the beach is slowly regaining its original shape, says experts.