Karnatka's Karwar set to berth INS Vikramaditya

Karwar Naval Base
It's with a strange mix of elation and trepidation that residents of Karwar are welcoming the arrival of INS Vikramaditya, which will berth at the port town's naval base by mid-January 2014.

The aircraft carrier is expected to come along with huge baggage — something that residents fear could tell on the town's creaking infrastructure and send prices of essential commodities soaring. But the town's civic mandarins and naval base officials see a silver lining in this: They argue that the berthing brings with it a huge business opportunity that's waiting to be tapped.

District BJP secretary Rajesh Nayak says projects like the Kaiga nuclear power station and Seabird have brought more pressure on Karwar's infrastructure, which far outweighs the benefits in terms of improving the local economy and providing secondary job opportunities to residents.

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