Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said the conduct of MILAN-2022, the biennial Multilateral Naval Exercise, for the first time in the city is a matter of pride for Visakhapatnam.
The Chief Minister was speaking as chief guest at the City Parade organjsed as part of the event, at R.K. Beach here on Sunday evening.
The name of Visakhapatnam, known as the City of Destiny, would now sail with the history of the nation, as the warship, INS Visakhapatnam, was recently inducted into the Indian Navy, the Chief Minister said.
“It has the Dolphin’s Nose and our State animal, ‘Krishna jinka’ (blackbuck or Indian antelope), as its emblem,” Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said.
“The operational demos reinforce our faith in the ability of the Navy in protecting the people,” he added.
Admiral R. Hari Kumar, Chief of Naval Staff, and Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command (ENC), were present on the dais.
The Chief Minister and other guests witnessed the City Parade, in which the flag bearers carried the flags of the 39 participating countries. A contingent each from the Australian Navy, Bangladesh Navy, Malaysian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, Sea Cadet Corps, Sainik School, Korukonda, INS Chilka Bank from Odisha, AP Police, Octopus (AP Special Police), and State Disaster and Fire Services participated.
Earlier, the Chief Minister visited the Naval Dockyard and participated in various programmes. He also went onboard INS Visakhapatnam and participated in the ‘Dedication’ ceremony, and also had a guided tour of the new indigenously-built submarine, ‘INS Vela’.
Later, he went to the Government Circuit House, where he was received by the people’s representatives and other officials.
Former Minister Dadi Veerabhadra Rao; Members of Parliament G. Madhavi (Araku) and B.V. Satyavathi (Anakapalle), Members of the Legislative Council Vamsikrishna Yadav and V. Kalyani; and legislators K. Bhagyalakshmi, Golla Babu Rao, Tippala Nagi Reddy, Karanam Dharmasri, Petla Umasankar Ganesh, Gudivada Amarnath, and A. Pradeep Raj were among those who met the Chief Minister.
Assembly Speaker T. Seetharam, Tourism Minister M. Srinivasa Rao, Mayor G. Hari Venkata Kumari, ZP Chairperson J. Subhadra, VMRDA Chairperson A. Vijayanirmala, District Collector A. Mallikarjuna and Joint Collector M. Venugopal Reddy were present.
