Indian Navy on Thursday, 6th April 2023 conducted the bi-annual coordinated exercise along with other defence, state and civilian agencies in the offshore area development off Mumbai. The official statement of the Indian Navy said: “that a coordinated exercise codenamed ‘Prasthan’ was conducted on April 6”. Every six months, the exercise is undertaken to verify the policies and methods for handling potential emergencies on oil production platforms.

About 30 nautical miles southwest of Bombay Harbour, on the Greatdrill and Chaaya platform, the practice was carried out. The exercise provides troops with a realistic set-up of the battlefields. It also trains them to tackle contingencies and strengthen standard operating procedures.

About Exercise ‘Prasthan’

Every six months, an exercise is conducted to verify the policies and practices in place to deal with potential emergencies on oil production platforms. Actions were taken throughout the simulation to prepare for several situations, including an oil platform fire and a man overboard. A nearby oil spill, medical evaluations for the platform personnel, helicopter emergencies, and a dangerous gas leak that helped a disabled vessel offshore.

The Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, Indian Coast Guard, ONGC, and Directorate General of Shipping all sent numerous ships and helicopters for the drill. Participants included representatives from the Maharashtra Police, Customs, Fisheries Department, Mumbai Port Authority, JN Port Authority, and other relevant state and federal civilian agencies. The exercise offers a practical environment for evaluating how well everyone is prepared to deal with these contingencies and reinforces the standard operating procedures.

The previous edition of the exercise was held in October 2022. It was a two-day offshore exercise. To effectively defend offshore, it attempted to coordinate the actions of all marine parties. About 40 nautical miles south of Kakinada, the drill rigs Platinum Explorer and DDKG of ONGC and RIL carried out the activity.

Different contingencies were performed during the exercise. Terrorist incursions, bomb explosions, casualty evacuation, search and rescue efforts, man overboard, large fires, oil spills, and mass evacuations are some of these contingencies. Apart from the navy, the exercise saw participation from Indian Coast Guard, Indian air force, ONGC, Mumbai port authority, police, fisheries and customs. An extensive analysis was conducted as part of the Indian Naval exercise to determine the areas and components that need improvement.