Kolkata: President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday launched India’s newest warship ‘INS Vindhyagiri’ at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd’s (GRSE) facility on the banks of Hooghly River at Kidderpore in the city.
Murmu arrived in the city this morning to inaugurate the advanced stealth frigate for the Indian Navy.
Named after the mountain range in Karnataka, Vindhyagiri is the sixth ship of the Project 17A Frigates.
The state-of-the-art ship will be fitted with the latest gadgets and undergo extensive trials before being handed over to the Indian Navy for commissioning into service.
P17A ships are guided missile frigates, each 149 metres long, with a displacement of approximately 6,670 tonnes and a speed of 28 knots, according to a GRSE official.
These warships are follow-ons of the Shivalik class Project 17 frigates with improved stealth features, advanced weapons and sensors and platform management systems and are capable of neutralising threats in all three dimensions of air, surface and subsurface.
Vindhyagiri is the last of the three ships being built by Defence PSU GRSE for the Indian Navy. The first five ships of the project were launched between 2019 and 2022.
The President also launched ‘My Bengal, Addiction Free Bengal’ Campaign under the ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan’, organized by Brahma Kumaris at Raj Bhavan here.
Speaking on the occasion, Murmu stated that this situation can be improved through spiritual awakening, medication, social solidarity and political will.
She appreciated organizations like Brahma Kumaris for discussing such issues and working to solve them.
The President said any kind of addiction develops due to mental stress and peer pressure. Addiction is harmful to health. Many other disorders also arise from addiction. Family and friends of drug addicts also suffer a lot of trouble.
