KOCHI TO BID ADIEU TO NAVY CHIEF

KOCHI TO BID ADIEU TO NAVY CHIEF

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Verma will leave here for New Delhi on Wednesday  ,21st August,2012, after a farewell visit to the Southern Naval Command prior to retirement on August 31.He was received at the Command on Monday by Vice-Admiral Satish Soni, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Naval Command, the training command of the Navy.Admiral Verma was commissioned into the Navy in July 1970 and assumed the top office on August 31, 2009.

A Defence press release said the officer’s tenure at the helm marked a phase of consolidation and growth for the Navy. The period saw the Navy coming in for praise from the international community for its anti-piracy efforts.“A record number of ships have been commissioned into the Navy over the past three years, which included three Shivalik-class stealth frigates, two fleet tankers, INS Teg , INS Sudarshini , and eight water-jet fast attack crafts. Nuclear attack submarine INS Chakra was also commissioned in his watch as the Navy Chief. [A total of] 46 ships are in various stages of construction while acceptance of necessity for 49 more ships have been obtained. The modernisation process of the Navy got a fillip under his watch with 100 per cent utilisation of capital budget in the last three years. The Navy also maintained a healthy capital to revenue budget ratio of 68:32,” said the press release. The Admiral was instrumental in conceiving and implementing the Naval Regimental System, wherein the service institutionalised care and concern for naval veterans and their families, especially widows.The outgoing Admiral’s itinerary in Kochi includes farewell addresses to personnel of the Southern Naval Command and a reception in his honour. He will also visit the Signal and Communications School, his alma mater.

Prof. John Kurakar