'Prasthan' Exercise

• Indian Navy conducted the bi-annual exercise named “Prasthan” in the Western Offshore Development Area, Mumbai.

• It is conducted every six months under the Western Naval Command.

• Its main objective is to validate measures and procedures to respond to various contingencies that may arise in oil production platforms.

• The current exercise was conducted on ONGC's R12A (Ratna) platform. It started on 8 December and was conducted in two phases.

• In the first phase, security emergencies such as attacks by terrorists and bomb threats from IED operations were practised.

• The second phase saw actions against contingencies such as an oil platform fire and assisting a disabled vessel in an offshore development area.