Indian Coast Guard ship named after Kanaklata Barua commissioned

Indian Coast Guard (ICG) commissioned ICGS Kanaklata Barua, a fast patrol vessel (FPV), in Kolkata. ICG ships are named after women freedom fighters of the country and the ICG had an FPV named after Kanaklata, which was decommissioned in 2017 after 20 years of service from Port Blair as its base.

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It is the fifth and last in a series of FPVs built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd. The other four are ICGS Priyadarshini (named after Indira Gandhi), ICGS Annie Besant, ICGS Kamala Devi (after Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay), and ICGS Amrit Kaur.

These FPVs are upgraded versions of the inshore patrol vessels with a modified form of the hull and can achieve a speed of 34 knots. Such vessels have also been delivered to Indian Navy by GRSE.

These are suited for patrolling, maritime surveillance, anti-smuggling, anti-poaching operations and also for fishery protection, and rescue and search missions. These FPVs are medium-range surface vessels with a length of around 50 m, and a displacement of over 300 tonnes.

It is named after a teenage freedom fighter who was shot dead in Assam during the Quit India Movement.

When police did not let them move forward, an altercation led to firing, killing Barua at the head of the procession.

The Coast Guard had named an earlier ship after her. The previous ICGS Kanaklata Barua was commissioned in 1997 and decommissioned in 2017. The ship was dismantled in 2018 and sold as scrap.