INS Viraat to be a maritime museum, bids to be floated

The state government will bid for now decommissioned INS Viraat as it plans to convert the aircraft carrier into a maritime museum.

Minister for Tourism Jaykumar Rawal, on the eve of World Tourism Day, said that the government plans to berth the INS Viraat at the confluence of the Vasai-Virar creek.

He expressed optimism that given the fact that Dr Subhash Bhamre, Union Minister of State for Defence being from Maharashtra the state’s claim will have more weightage.

When his attention was drawn to the fact that Goa Chief Minister and former Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was also bidding for the the world’s oldest aircraft carrier, Rawal admitted that states like Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana too were bidding for the battleship. The Indian Naval Ship (INS) Viraat was decommissioned from the navy on March 6 earlier this year.

Referring to the Heritage Run organised by the Customs department on October 29 to mark centenary year of its new Customs House building, Rawal said that the state tourism department lending its support to the government’s request to the Customs department to design and develop a QR Code (Quick Response Code) for all the heritage buildings in Mumbai.

Rawal said that the process will take two to three months. Rawal stated that people and tourists will be able to scan or enter the QR Code and hear the information about the history of the building or download it.

INS Viraat was first commissioned into the British Royal Navy as the HMS Hermes on November 18, 1959, 15 years after she was laid down in June, 1944.