Non-governmental organisations have urged authorities to reject the proposal to convert a decommissioned navy ship into the country’s first underwater maritime museum.

In a joint memorandum to Lt. Governor Kiran bedi, Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy and top officials, representatives of 10 NGOs termed the proposal a “disastrous idea” which will cause irreparable damage not only to the present, but also to the future generations.

According to the proposal, INS Cuddalore, which was decommisioned in March 2018, will be lowered to the seabed about 7 km off the Puducherry coast to be used as the underwater museum.

The NGOs alleged that the idea was being rushed through without undertaking a detailed assessment of the impact.

The proposal to sink a warship, which was unprecedented, was being mooted at a time when great precautions are being taken to even lower a small plastic bag into the ocean.

Fearing that the heavy metals, paint and other chemicals on the frigate may pose a permanent hazard to marine and human life, the non-governmental organisations said a small place with a fragile ecology such as Puducherry could not afford to stage such risky experiments.