Dismantling of 'River Princess' begins

Panaji, Dec 6 (UNI) The much-awaited work of floating and towing away of the commercial vessel 'River Princes' began here today after it ran aground off Sinquerim coast in North Goa's Condolim village, threatening the fragile environment, six years ago.

Deputy Chief Minister in-charge of Tourism Ministry Sr Wilfred de Souza pressed the button that started dewatering the saline water from the sunk vessel.

The towing, refloating and later breaking it away later from Goan coast to Kandla in Gujarat costs Rs 5.5 crore to the exchequer.

The work was assigned to M/S Jisul Shipping Company, Kandla, Gujarat which was authorised to sell away the scrap.

The Congress and BJP governments were fired by the opposition for not removing the ship despite hue and cry from environmentalists.

Seeing a big ''fraud'' in the deal, the BJP opposition leader and former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar took exception to the sale of the scrap for a ''song'' as it would cost not less than Rs 25 crore in the international market.

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