TN Set to Have Countrys First Maritime Museum

NEWDELHI: Keeping in line with the rich maritime heritage of Tamil Nadu dating back to Chola Dynasty, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is set to give approval to set up the country’s first maritime museum under Project Samudram near Chennai, official sources said here.Project Samudram, a maritime heritage tourism package proposal, is an abbreviation for ‘Seashore Archaeological Museums of the Dravidian Mainland’ encompa-ssing Chennai, Mamallap-uram, Alamparai, Sadras, Puducherry, Porto Novo and Kaveripoompattinam.The proposal was mooted by the Indian Navy that has offered to give its decommissioned Foxtrot class submarine — INS Vagli to the state to be kept as the centre piece at the museum.“The Ministry of Defence has given in principle approval to the project and the proposal is now with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister for final approval,” sources told Express. The state government had earlier accepted the Navy’s offer.Once the final nod from the Chief Minister’s comes, the completion of Maritime Heritage Museum, including a Maritime Research Centre, will take around one year.Talking about the project, a naval official said, “The Chola naval conquests are well known and Tamil Nadu has been taking a good interest in preserving its rich mar-itime heritage. Also in modern times, it has the potential to emerge as the leading maritime State of India, because of its strategically located ports and academic institutions connected with the sector. The proposed museum is in line with this maritime consciousness of the State.”The project will also serve two purposes of attracting the youth of Tamil Nadu to take a career in maritime sector and to boost tourism by projecting the unique museum as a major highlight in the state’s tourism circuit.While the Indian Navy has a submarine museum at Visakhapatnam’s R K Beach where a Kursura class submarine is open for visitors, the scale of Tamil Nadu maritime museum is unprecedented. Around 30 acres land has already been earmarked off North Chennai for the construction of the museum, the sources said.INS Vagli, the oldest operational submarine of the Indian Navy, undertook its last dive on July 21, 2010 and was decommissioned later that year.