INVC,,
Amadalli,,
Defence Minister Shri AK Anthony, today commissioned a civilian township at Amadalli marking the completion of all construction activities associated with Phase-I of the magnificent Naval base at Karwar. Speaking on the occasion the honorable minister complemented all the engineers and the contractors, associated with the project, for developing world class infrastructure at Amadalli for the defence civilians. He pointed out that “The completion of Phase-I activities of the Naval Base has brought to life the dream of our late Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi, who had laid the foundation stone for this Naval Base on 24 October, 1986.”
He highlighted the fact that “The growth of the Karwar naval base provided considerable impetus to the economy of the Uttar Kannada region.” Adding further he said “the Ministry of Defence had allotted a sum of Rs. 126.96 Cr to the State for rehabilitation of local inhabitants; all the rehabilitation centers have been established, pukka houses provided to the families with electricity, drainage and also pukka roads and schools have been set up in the rehabilitation centers”. He pointed out that “Over 1000 children from the project affected families have been enrolled in ITIs since 1998 providing valuable technical training to the young people and additionally approximately 178 persons from the affected families have also been enrolled in the Indian Navy”. He observed, with satisfaction that, almost 50% complement of the Naval Civilians employed by the Naval Base has either been from the Project Affected Families or from the Karwar region.
Even as Phase-I of the Karwar naval base project is completed, planning for the second phase of the project involving augmentation of facilities at the Naval base to cater for basing of additional ships and submarines at Karwar is well underway and work is likely to commence once the Cabinet approves the expansion.
It may be recalled that just yesterday while addressing the Unified Commander’s Conference, in New Delhi, the Defence Minister whilst stating that India always desired friendly relations with all its neighbours added that “we must keep up the ongoing process of upgrading our military structure”.
This expansion of the base would also provide an economic fillip to the Uttar Kannada region and bring better job opportunities and economic well being of the local population.
Admiral Nirmal Verma, Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral DK Joshi, Flag-Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command were among the others present at the inauguration ceremony.
