Indian Navy well equipped to face any threat: Naval chief

KANNUR: The Indian Navy is well equipped to face any threat, though the threat perceptions are challenging for a maritime nation like India, Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral RK Dhowan said.

"The Indian ocean region is emerging as the world's centre of gravity as far as the maritime domain is concerned," he said in an interaction with the media at the Indian Naval Academy (INA) in Ezhimala here on Saturday after reviewing the passing out parade of the cadets of the Autumn Term 2014.

"The threat perceptions existing in the maritime domain are indeed challenging ranging from piracy to asymmetric warfare. But the Indian Navy is a multidimensional combat force and it is ready to take on any challenge in the Indian Ocean region."

Since India is essentially a maritime nation, the Indian Navy has huge maritime interests, he said. Taking into account the development needs it will develop its infrastructure further but that will be a green development taking into account the environmental conservation, he said.

"We take great amount of attention to conserve our environment whenever we carry out development and our endeavour is to carry out development in keeping with the conservation of environment by ensuring zero carbon footprint in all our naval bases."

Talking about the second phase development of the INA, Ezhimala, Admiral Dhowan said it is very much underway as far as the approvals are concerned. He said the development will make sure that the infrastructure keeps pace with the induction.

Also, commencing from the next course, the INA will have a few cadets from our friendly foreign countries as trainees here, which the Academy had been planning for quite some time.

When it was pointed out that the local residents of the surrounding areas of Ezhimala are concerned about the move to acquire more land for the infrastructure development, the Naval chief said the development will take into account the concern of the residents as well.

"I can assure you any development that is done at the Naval Academy or anywhere else as part of the infrastructure development of the Navy, we follow the actual procedures, rules and regulations of the state and central government. We also take the entire local community into account whenever such things are needed."

He also said the phase one development of Karwar Naval base in Karnataka is nearly complete and the phase two will begin soon, which will be executed in the next 8-10 years.

Talking about the concern of the fishermen from Tamil Nadu, who are often caught by Sri Lanka forces for crossing the border, he said the Navy and the Coast Guard conduct regular patrols to ensure the safety of our fishermen. Further, the government has put in good efforts to mark the boundary areas so that the fishermen know where they proceed.

Admiral Dhowan also said the future of Indian navy is firmly anchored on self reliance and indigenisation, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' campaign.

"As far as the Make in India campaign is concerned, Indian Navy had started its first steps of self reliance and indigenisation over fifty years ago," he said. "The Navy developed its first warship, INS Ajay, in 1961, and we set up our own design directorate in 1964. Since then we have been taking small but steady steps in self reliance and indigenisation."

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