International firm bags Rs 20 crore contract to upright INS Betwa

NEW DELHI: The Navy has inked a contract worth almost Rs 20 crore with an international salvage firm to upright the 3,850-tonne frigate INS Betwa, which had tipped over at the Mumbai naval dockyard on December 6, killing two sailors and injuring 14 others.
Concurrently, the Navy has also completed its board of inquiry (BoI) headed by a Rear Admiral into the unprecedented mishap, during which the Brahmaputra-class frigate “slipped from her dock blocks”, tilted and then crashed flat on her left (port) side while being undocked during a maintenance refit, said sources.“Strict action will be taken against the personnel, including the dock-masters, found guilty of lapses.But the BoI findings will have to be confirmed by higher authorities, first by the Western Naval Command at Mumbai and then by Navy headquarters in New Delhi,” said a source.
With the main naval dry dock at Mumbai blocked by INS Betwa, the Navy wants the frigate to be salvaged and made battle-ready to rejoin the fleet as soon as possible. The salvage firm, Resolve Marine Group, has sought a month to mobilise its resources from different places as well as build the “required rigs and sponsons” for the complicated operation. “It should take another month after that to make the frigate upright,” said the source.