In a letter which Joshi handed over to Vajpayee when he called on him in Delhi on April 4, the CM stated that the project to convert the historic ship into a museum was of national importance. ``The CM has requested the Prime Minister to clear the project on priority,'' Principal Secretary (Urban Development) K Nalinakshan told Express Newsline.

The long delayed Vikrant project is presently stuck at the locational clearance stage. The MbPT is dragging its feet on a Navy and state government request for the site off Radio Club, near the Gateway of India, selected for berthing the ship.

``The CM has also requested the government to transfer the ship to the state government,'' said Arun Bongirwar, Principal Secretary to Joshi, adding that `money is not the issue, gettingthe site is.' The Vikrant was decommissioned on January 31, 1997 after serving the Navy for 36 years. A proposal on Rs 70-crore project submitted by the Navy to the state government soon after the decommissioning envisaged permanently embedding the ship on a concrete dam, at the seafront site which belongs to the MbPT. Besides serving as a maritime museum, it is also to have exhibition halls while the flight deck will be used for a heliport.

In January this year, the Chief Minister chaired a meeting on board the ship at the naval dockyard which involved various heads of state government departments, the Navy and the Port Trust.

Last month, a committee of MbPT trustees appointed to study the Navy's proposal concluded that further studies needed to be done and recommended that consultants be hired to study various other sites. While the report is to be submitted in a few months, committee members have raised various objections against the proposal ranging from environment, traffic congestion to the impacton the port. ``Traffic and environment are the responsibilities of the state government not the Mumbai port,'' said Nalinakshan who also heads a committee appointed by the CM to monitor the project. He stated that conducting a fresh study on the site would delay the project by another two years.

``The Port Trust should only know about the impact of the project from the navigational and operational point of view,'' Nalinakshan said adding the state government had agreed to sanction Rs 1 crore to commission an environment and traffic management study on the Radio Club site. Meanwhile, the Navy is firm on its stand that the Vikrant would be sent to a scrapyard if the project is not cleared by the year-end. The Vikrant's corroding hull plates haven't been inspected in five years and there is every possibility she might spring leaks or worse, sink at her present berth. ``The ship has to be dry-docked for a month to assess and repair the hull, and give the underwater area a protective coat of paint,'' stated asenior naval official. Naval sources estimate this last dry docking will cost approximately Rs five crore. This money will come only if the project is cleared and funds sanctioned.