New Delhi: When asked about his priorities soon after taking over as Navy chief, Admiral R.K. Dhowan listed adherence to standard operating procedures to ensure that accidents do not occur in the Navy.
In the past several decades, successive governments have largely gone by the seniority principle and there have been few instances in the armed forces when the seniormost officer has been superseded for the top job in his service. It is learnt Vice-Admiral Sinha was superseded mainly beca-use some of the accidents, including the gutting of the INS Sindhur-akshak submarine in August 2013 and the INS Sindhuratna accident this February, took place under the jurisdiction of the Western Naval Command headed by him.
Vice-Admiral Sinha may note he was not personally responsible for the accidents and that various measures were taken in the wake of these accidents.
The appointment of the naval chief was announced 50 days after Admiral D.K. Joshi resigned as naval chief, owning moral responsibility for the spate of accidents and incidents involving naval submarines and warships that had rocked the Navy from August, 2013, to February, 2014.
Meanwhile, interacting with reporters on Thursday, Admiral Dhowan listed strict adherence to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and conducting of safety audits as among the top priorities of the Navy which will ensure that accidents do not occur. Other top priorities include focus on adequate training and ensuring that the Indian Navy, as a fighting force, remains combat-ready.
Admiral Dhowan, 59, the 22nd Naval chief, will retire on May 31, 2016. He was earlier the vice-chief and had been functioning as the officiating chief for the past 50 days following the resignation of Admiral Joshi on February 26.
Speaking to reporters later, Admiral Dhowan said, “We have effective safety audits in place and strict procedures by which we will follow SOPs to ensure that accidents don’t happen.”
Admiral Dhowan is a “navigation and dire-ction specialist” and an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and the Defence Services Staff College.
He had earlier held important staff appointments, including deputy director naval operations.
