PM Modi will visit Karnataka and Kerala on September 1-2 to join several programmes, including Adi Shankaracharya’s Birth Place visit at Kalady village near Cochin airport. Along with this, on September 2 PM Narendra Modi will commission the first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier named INS Vikrant, Cochin Shipyard Limited in Kochi.
He will also be inaugurating and laying the foundation stone of projects worth Rs 3,800 crores in Mangaluru. The PMO noted that Modi has been an example of a strong proponent of self-reliance, focusing in strategic sectors. The commissioning of INS Vikrant will be incredible mark of a significant step towards this.

It will be the India’s first indigenously designed and built aircraft carrier. It is created and designed by the Indian Navy’s in-house Warship Design Bureau (WDB), further built by the Cochin Shipyard which is a public sector shipyard. Vikrant has been built with a concept ‘State-of- the-Art automation features considering the largest ever ship in the Indian maritime history.

The aircraft carrier is named after India’s First illustrious predecessor, which had played a vital role in the 1971 war, the PMO noted. It includes the large number of indigenous equipment and machinery which involving country’s major industrial houses as well as over 100 MSMEs. With the commissioning of Vikrant, India will be having two operational aircraft carriers, bolstering the maritime security of the nation, it noted.

The Prime Minister will also unveil the new Naval Ensign ‘Nishaan’ that does with the colonial past, befitting the rich Indian maritime heritage, it added. In Mangaluru, Modi Ji will inaugurate the project worth over Rs 280 crore for Mechanisation of ‘Berth No 14’ that handles containers and other cargo that is commenced by the New Mangalore Port Authority.

The mechanised terminal will increase efficiency, reducing turnaround time initiating pre-berthing delay and dwell time in the port by 35%, the PMO said. The phase 1 of the project has been declared as successfully completed, thus adding over 4.2 MTPA to the handling capacity and further increasing to over 6 MTPA by 2025.