Coast to Coast rally reaches Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam: The  final leg of “Coast to Coast” rally organised by Indian Navy as part of Social Outreach Programme was flagged off from Visakhapatnam on Tuesday morning by Chief of Staff of Eastern Naval Command, Vice-Admiral Atul Kumar Jain.

The outreach programme is an initiative of the Southern Naval Command organised as part of the celebrations to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee of INS Valsura.

The team reached Visakhapatnam on Monday afternoon and interacted with schoolchildren to spread awareness about the Indian Navy. The rally is now heading back to Jamnagar touching Hyderabad and Pune en-route.

As a part of the Plati-num Jubilee Celebra-tions of INS Valsura, the Indian Navy is commemorating the event with a unique “Coast to Coast” Social outreach progra-mme to connect with chi-ldren and youth of the country along both coasts.

The mega road trip by 12 officers including two woman officers and three sailors in five cars departed INS Valsura, Jamnagar, on March 16 to cover a distance of over 6,000 km touching all major Naval establishments and historical maritime places of interest. The rally will conclude at Jamnagar on April 2.

INS Valsura, the premier training institute for Electrical Engineers of the Indian Navy, is a 75-year-old establishment of the Indian Navy located at Jamnagar, Gujarat. The establishment boasts of a rich maritime heritage dating back to pre-independence India of 1942, when the British Navy set up a Torpedo School on December 15, 1942, and named it Val-Sura from the Tamil words Val — “Sword” and Surah — “Fish”. The “Swordfish” was a legendary carrier borne Torpedo carrying aircraft of the Royal Navy during World War II.