NAVAL BASE KARWAR
The Indian Navy is
commissioned its integrated strategic
Naval Base at Karwar. The harbour is
bounded by 5.14 Kms of break water and fully complies with the MARPOL
regulations. Once commissioned, it will be the third Naval base after
Mumbai and Visakhapatnam where an operational fleet can be located.
The then Prime Minister Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi laid the
foundation stone on 24 Oct 1986.
The project was originally conceived by Admiral OS Dawson (Retd), PVSM, AVSM,
ADC, who was Chief of Naval Staff from 28 Feb 82 to 30Nov84.
Project Seabird is being executed on 4480 hectare of land,
which was a mix of forest, revenue and private land. 4111 families living in 13
villages have been relocated on 07 Rehabilitation Centres (RC). These RCs have
been provided with all amenities such as electricity, drinking water, roads, bus
connectivity, schools, community halls, places of worship etc. Apart from the
grants and compensation, the Navy has been funding their children in technical
training, allotting vacancies in Naval recruitment etc.
Out of the acquired 3500 hectares of forest land, only 400
hectares have been used for construction. As per the existing policy, 800
hectare of compensatory afforestation has been done. In addition about 900
hectares of afforestation has been carried out within the Naval area after
taking over.
One of the unique feature of the base is the Ship lift and
ship transfer system for dry docking of the ship at the Naval ship Repair Yard.
The ship lift is capable of lifting upto 10,000 tonnes and measures 175 m x 28
m. Currently there are 02 jetties available for berthing of ship. Ultimately, 11
piers will be available which will be able to accommodate 42 ships. Ships will
be placed by end 2005 to enable the Western Naval Command with operational
flexibilities.
The base has the following major facilities: -
* Township comprising married accommodation for officers and
sailors, shopping complex, Sailors Institute, Schools, Family Clinic, Welfare
Centre, gardens, parks etc.
* Depot ship, parade ground, drill shed, Logistics Complex,
Officers' Mess and In-living complex for sailors.
* A new hospital to be named INHS Patanjali with ultra modern
facilities and initial capacity for 141 beds, and upgradeable to 400 beds.
The base is endowed with a 23 Kms long clean coast-line of
the Uttara Kannada district. There are many tourist spots in and around Karwar,
viz Jog falls, Dandeli wild life sanctuary, Gokarn, Om beach, Sadasivgadh fort
to name a few.
