ENC to organise Operational Demonstration in Vizag on January 4 next year, Chief Minister of A.P. to be chief guest, says ENC chief

An operational demo by the Indian Navy will be organised by the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) on January 4 at RK Beach instead of the annual Navy Day operational demonstration on December 4, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command Vice Admiral Rajesh Pendharkar said here.

Addressing a press conference at the ENC base here on Monday (December 2), Vice Admiral Pendharkar said that in line with the Union Government’s policy of organising celebrations in different cities and historical locations this year’s Navy Day 2024 celebrations will be organised by the ENC in Odisha on December 4. This year’s Navy Day operational demo by ships, submarines and aircraft of ENC would being organised at Golden Beach in Puri, Odisha. The President of India will be the chief guest. All arrangements have been made too, he added.

“However, it is not to say that the people of Vizag will miss this annual activity. For residents of Visakhapatnam, we plan to organise an operational demo at RK Beach on January 4, 2025. Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu is scheduled to be the chief guest on the occasion. In addition, other events planned in Vizag as part of the Navy Week celebrations such as band concert, visit of naval ships by children, interaction with veterans and the much-awaited Navy Marathon to be held on Beach Road on December 15,” said Vice Admiral Pendharkar.

Speaking on the ENC’s last one year progress and development activities, he said that in the past year, three ships of the ENC were deployed in the Arabian Sea to augment overall naval efforts. INS Sumitra and INS Sumedha, along with Marine Commandos, played a stellar role in securing the release of 59 personnel from hijacked vessels, and apprehension of 20 Somali pirates. INS Shivalik was involved in real-time combat situations, wherein the ship provided Anti-Missile Defence cover to merchant vessels being attacked by Houthi rebels.

He said that India’s coastal regions house around 25% of India’s population. Most importantly, 90% of the country’s trade by volume, and over 70% percent of energy needs, pass through the Indian Ocean. Thus, for all practical purposes, India must be seen as a large island State, where the ENC’s contribution began as a small outpost in Visakhapatnam in 1968. The ENC covers a coastline that stretches 2562 kms. Its ‘Area of Responsibility’ extends from the East Coast of India to the Western Pacific, and up to the edge of the Southern Indian Ocean, he added.

While talking about the Sagarmala Project, he said that in last decade, there has been capacity augmentation by over 65% across all major ports, leading to an impressive 87% rise in their cargo handling capacity. The Indo-Pacific region is home to 65% of the world’s population, generates 62% of the world’s GDP, and accounts for close to 60% of the global trade. Nine of the 10 busiest ports, and seven of the top 10 export destinations in the World, are in the Indo-Pacific, he concluded at the press conference before leaving for Puri to participate in the Navy Day celebrations there on December 4.