Ranjit Mahanti
ADMIRAL Superintendent, Naval Dockyard (ASD), Mumbai, Sanjeev Kale is once again in the news, but not for good reasons. An ABI (abinet.org) investigation has revealed that Sanjeev Kale ordered fire officers to silence the siren during a fire incident in the Indian Navy’s missile boat INS Pralay last month. Reason ? to hide the fire incident from people.
Who is Sanjeev Kale ?
Sanjeev Kale in his career spanning 33 years has served the Navy in various appointments such as Commissioning Electrical Officer of INS Talwar, Fleet Electrical Officer (Western Fleet), AGM (Planning) and Manager (Electrical) at Naval Dockyards in Mumbai and Visakhapatnam respectively. The Flag Officer has also commanded INS Valsura and served at IHQ MoD (Navy) as PDIT and DEE.
Now, Sanjeev ke “Kale” Karname
On January 10, 2017, a fire was reported in the gyro compartment of INS Pralay at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai. The fire is suspected to have occurred during welding work. Sirens are a means of warning people when there is a threat of danger. Shockingly, Sanjeev Kale ordered fire officers to silence the siren on vehicles while going to the incident spot. Officers did as told. While only Kale would know the real reason for his actions, prima facie it does seem that Kale made this irresponsible decision to hide the incident from everyone.
The matter came to the fore after the All India Naval Technical Supervisory Staff Association (AINTSSA) on January 10, 2017, wrote a letter to the union defence secretary making several allegations against Sanjeev Kale. The letter says that Kale ordered the fire officer to silence the siren while going to the incident spot. Kale also did not call the Mumbai fire brigade, claiming it was a minor incident.
A copy of the AINTSSA letter is with ABI (Akela Bureau of Investigation).
On January 1, 2017, ABI published an article under headline ‘Navy throws its own green initiative into sea, uproots 150 six-month-old plants for Kiran More’s sports academy‘. The article exposed the nexus between Sanjeev Kale and Kiran More. The AINTSSA letter supports the ABI report and says Kale did not adhere to proper norms while opening the Kiran More Academy in the Naval Civilian Housing Colony (NCHC) in Kanjur Marg in Mumbai.
AINTSSA has also alleged that on December 5, 2016, an unfortunate incident was reported on INS Betwa. Kale clearly ignored the incident and gave priority to his illegal commercial interests. Instead of worrying about the state of Naval Ships, which is his job, it is said that he was instead busy planning the launch of his family friend Kiran More’s Academy Launch at the Colony. He has also been spending a lot of time planning a shopping complex and bachelors’ accommodation in the colony. Clearly Mr. Kale has more important commercial and vested interests in his mind than worrying about the state of Naval Ships.
Sources said, though there is no proof for it,that Kiran More and Sanjeev Kale’s wife were classmates and for that Sanjeev Kale has been violating rules and regulations. Kale allowed More to open sports academy without any of the formalities required.