Sri Lanka cancels order for ship from India

By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO, JULY 23. Sri Lanka has cancelled an order for a second Sukhanya class off- shore patrol vessel (OPV) from India due to paucity of funds, officials said.

The first OPV was bought late last year at an estimated cost of about $ 20 millions to bolster the navy's capability to police the island's northeastern waters, used by the LTTE to bring in weapons.

The purchase of the vessel, which is built to carry one helicopter, was seen as the navy's first step towards setting up an air wing for efficient surveillance. Several Sri Lankan navy personnel underwent training in India for this purpose. But the air wing project has now been abandoned, the Sunday Times reported yesterday.

Confirming the report, the officials said the Sri Lankan navy had also conveyed to India that it was no longer interested in the three Chetak helicopters that it had ordered for the first OPV.

The navy chief, Vice-Admiral Daya Sandagiri, reportedly said some months ago at a discussion on the setting up of the Navy's air wing that he did not want to duplicate the task of the air force which already has long range surveillance capacity.

The first OPV was supplied from the Indian Navy's existing fleet. INS Sarayu was rechristened here as SLNS Sayura.

At the time, the Sri Lankan navy wanted one more OPV, but as India could not spare another from its fleet, one was commissioned to be built.

But the purchase of INS Sarayu came under heavy criticism from within the Sri Lankan navy as it required a fleet of escort ships for its own security, and for this reason, remained under- utilised for a long time. The press called it a ``white elephant'' that Sri Lanka could ill-afford amid a severe economic crunch.

The sale of the OPV was India's first known sale of military hardware to Sri Lanka.

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Section  : International
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