Vagli to be transferred to Mamallapuram shore by next week

Submarine departs from Chennai Port; anchored 200 metres away from Mamallapuram shore

C Shivakumar/ ENS

Chennai:

The oldest operational submarine of the Indian Navy that was decommissioned at Visakhapatnam on December 2010 would be transferred to the 30 acres of land abutting the beach near the UNESCO declared World Heritage site next week.

The submarine Vagli, which was docked in Chennai Port for more than a year, has left Chennai Port and is docked 200 metres from the shore in Mammalapuram.

A Tamil Nadu Tourism Development official confirmed that the submarine is anchored 200 metres from the shore.

He told Express that the submarine would be shifted to shore using the latest technology and mounted on a platform by Tradex Shipping Corporation. “The shipping corporation had a one–year contract with us. It is coming to an end in the next two weeks. They asked for some more time,” the official said.

The submarine which will be converted into museum will also have facilities such as marine technology, food courts, audio-visual studio, souvenir shops, aquarium.

“Once the submarine is mounted on a platform then a tender will be floated to convert the submarine into museum,” the official said.

He said the tender will be floated once the lection gets over after which the work to convert the museum is likely to be completed in the next six months.

Vagli is a Vela class submarine and is similar to the INS Kursura S20 which was decommissioned and converted to a museum.