Visakhapatnam: Defense Minister Rajnath Singh along with Indian Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar commissioned INS Sandhayak at the Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
Delivering his address at the historic moment, the Defence Minister lauded the Indian Navy for providing security not only to the Indian ships but also those from friendly countries. His comments come in the backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions in the Indian Ocean and Arabian sea where the Indian Navy has extended assistance to several merchant vessels in the Arabian Sea following attacks on them.
"Many choke points like the Gulf of Aden etc. are present in the Indian Ocean, through which a large amount of international trade takes place. Many threats remain at these choke points, the biggest being from pirates,” he said, referring to the hijack attempts on Merchant Vessels in the Arabian Sea.
Assuring that those involved in maritime piracy and smuggling will not be tolerated under any circumstances, the defence Minister described it as the pledge of ‘New India’. During the commissioning of INS Imphal recently, he also said that "India will find those involved in nefarious activities from the depth of the oceans and take strict action against them."
It is pertinent to note here that the primary role of INS Sandhayak is to carry out full-scale hydrographic surveys of ports, harbours, navigational channels, routes, coastal areas and deep seas to enable safe marine navigation.
"INS Sandhayak will further strengthen India's role as a superpower in the Indo-Pacific region and help the Indian Navy in maintaining peace and security,'' said Singh.
INS Sandhayak was built at Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata. This project was steered by the Warship Design Bureau of the Indian Navy.
It has a displacement of 3,400 tons and a length of 110 metres with a beam of 16 m, equipped with state-of-the-art hydrographic equipment, including deep sea and shallow water multibeam echo sounders, autonomous underwater vehicles and others.
Side scan sonars, data acquisition and processing system, remotely operated vehicle, data acquisition and processing system and other advanced features are also a part of INS Sandhayak, which contains 80 per cent indigenous content.
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