Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Aug 26: Indian Navy's premier technical establishment “INS Eksila”, which overhauls marine gas turbines of war ships, was formally commissioned by Tamil Nadu Governor M. Fathima Beevi here on Saturday.
The only institution of its kind in South-East Asia, the Marine Gas Turbine Overhaul Centre (MGTOC) has been equipped with the state-of-the-art facilities for undertaking complete overhauling of marine gas turbine engines and gas turbine generators of the new generation naval ships, including the Rajput class destroyers.
The country could now save millions of rupees worth foreign exchange by avoiding sending the turbines to Russia and other countries for repairs and overhauling.
Setting up of a dedicated facility for undertaking capital repairs of main propulsion gas turbine engines and power generators on board the frontline war ships of both the eastern and western fleets was mooted in 1980s.Nested in the heavy industrial belt of Gajuwaka near Visakhapatnam, the MGTOC had a modest beginning in 1991 and the first overhauled gas turbine engine was rolled out in 1995. It has become an important setup, contributing to sharpen and hone the operational punch and fighting efficiency of the Navy, apart from getting international recognition as a centre of excellence in this highly specialised field.
In November 1998, the capacity was doubled with the setting up of a second assembly line for overhauling gas turbines and the first gas turbine from the second assembly line was rolled out on June 30, 1999 which paved way for creating a war reserve of indigenously overhauled units for the first time.
A noteworthy feature was that the establishment, manned by over 300 personnel, was also fully geared up to undertake capital repairs of the next generation gas turbines onboard the latest war ships.
It boasts of facilities like modern machine shop, fully equipped chemical and electroplating ship, full-fledged information technology centre, which has won the command computerisation competition for the last two years, highly accurate and sensitive dynamic balancing machine, sophisticated non-destructive test (NDT) section and fully air-conditioned assembling bay.
The nomenclature ''Eksila'' was derived from ''Eksila Nagaramu,'' original name of Warangal town, erstwhile capital of the Kakatiya dynasty, which ruled Andhra region from 11th to 15th century.
It symbolises a single rock 'Eksila,' used by King Ganapati Deva to construct the Waranagal fort, whose entrance was modelled on the famed Sanchi-type gateways. The naval establishment chose 'Eksila' to indicate an analogy that gas turbines play a pivotal role in the efficient propulsion and power generation in modern war ships.
— UNI
