Dilly-dallying by the previous United Progressive Alliance government on a 2010 proposal to buy a polar research vessel will now cost the nation over Rs 560 crore more.
Though the UPA government had given preliminary approval to buy an ice-breaker class research-cum-supply vessel for operations in the polar region at an estimated cost of Rs 490 crore, the ship was not acquired. The new BJP-led government has now approved a revised proposal to buy the vessel at a total cost of Rs 1051.13 crore.
A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved acquisition of the ship after the Ministry of Earth Sciences reworked the proposal, taking into account cost escalation of Rs 561.13 crore in four years. The CCEA decided to buy the ship within 34 months.
The government has so far been chartering ice-breaker vessels from international markets to sustain Indian research bases in Antarctica – Maitri and Bharti – and the Arctic research station Himadri.
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