Appalling, the state of the batteries in these submarines!
96 hours before death, INS Sindhuratna officer foretold disaster
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The officer, whose identity is being protected for obvious reasons, currently serves at the Western Naval Command, and has written in detail about his chance encounter with Lt Manoranjan on Feb 22 at the Naval Officers' Mess, an e-mail currently doing the rounds within the Indian Navy.
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His conversation to Headlines Today and his e-mail to seniors in the Indian Navy, make for the most disturbing commentary on the unacceptable dangers being imposed on Indian submariners during peacetime, beyond the inherent risks of the job.
"Just last week, I sat opposite a dashing, flamboyant, square-jawed Lieutenant wearing a Submariner badge alongside a Divers' badge. Polite conversation done, I asked him about the submarine arm. His reply, typically direct of military youth, 'We sail on a bomb, Sir'", the serving officer has told Headlines Today. The officer quotes Lt Manoranjan as having said, "The batteries are so old that despite the ten times effort to maintain, they still produce ten times the gas. The hydrogen burners simply can't cope."
More disturbingly, when the officer asked Lt Manoranjan why he hadn't flagged the issue up the naval chain of command, the young officer is quoted to have said, "Sir, everybody is aware. It's a point at the Commander's Conference attended by the entire higher military leadership - navy and civilian," adding, "Battery pit fires are the order of the day sir."
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The officer has also told Headlines Today that his anger is shared by several in the navy who cannot, for obvious reasons, step up and speak out. He indicated that his encounter with Lt Manoranjan just four days before a death he had virtually foretold, was simply "too much to keep silent about".
"Some part of the accountability should be with the people seated at the Command and Naval Headquarters, where they are equally responsible. The ministry of defence is an integrated headquarters, but unfortunately they don't share the responsibility. I think it is the collective responsibility from the bottom, from the electrical officer who should have said that you can't sail, to the minister or the headquarters who are responsible for supplying these weapons. I think everybody down the chain is responsible," the officer said.
Also, as reported, a dramatic warning by the Navy in 2010 to the Defence Ministry on the dangerous state of affairs in the submarine arm, has been almost meticulously ignored for four years now.
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It is criminal negligence if the bureaucracy sat on the file for so long! Who will hold the bureaucrats responsible??