‘Working towards indigenous warships’

The country is now on its way to designing indigenous warships and vessels but it also needs to work in the direction of export, said defence minister Manohar Parrikar while addressing workers of Mazagaon Dock Limited (MDL). He was speaking at the inauguration of the newly constructed submarine assembly workshop at Mazagaon on Saturday. He urged dockyards of the country to initiate more such ventures for export of indigenous defence material.

“Since 1992-93, India has been unable to manufacture a single submarine; however, after 24 years, indigenous submarine Kalvari is all set to be inducted into the navy with sea trials underway,” said the minister. He stressed on the need for modernisation, self-reliance, upgradation and private participation in construction of submarines in the country. The workshop, built at a cost of more than Rs 150 crore, is one of its kind in the country and incorporates green building features like rainwater harvesting and sewage treatment plant, grey water treatment plant, and oily water separator plant for the treatment of sewage, grey water and oily water, respectively, with zero discharge into municipal drains. Mr Parrikar said that the defence sector had already become 35 per cent indigenous and would soon reach 45 per cent. He said they are working on a naval plan and the private sector has been roped in. “I would request the four docks of the country to immediately set up a cell to build indigenous ships,” he urged.

Commenting on the workshop, rear admiral Rahul Kumar Shrawat, MDL, said, “It will enable MDL to build two submarines at a time, starting from construction to launch”. He said that in the past two years, MDL had removed 7,000 tonnes of scrap.

Mayor Snehal Ambekar, who too was present, informed MDL workers that she had given permission for construction of foot-over-bridge inside the dock which was pending for the last two years.

Later while talking to media persons, Mr Parrikar said, “We have already started exporting. Goa Shipyard has exported to three or four countries including Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Maldives and Seychelles. The shipyards have created capacity to increase exports. DPSUs had a production of Rs 43000 crore in 2014 that rose to Rs 51600 in 2016; a 20 per cent growth in two years. Now that capacity is built up, the needs of the Navy will be coming under control in the next four to five years.” The minister expressed pride in the performance of MDL where production value has improved from Rs 2,865 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 4009 crore in 2015-16.