FRONT PAGE | Thursday, February 5, 2009 | Email | Print | 
Defence Ministry surrenders Rs 16,000 cr
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
Fails to use budget allocation to buy weaponry
Antony blames procedures, red tape
The modernisation plans of the armed forces to maintain operational preparedness have been badly compromised as the Defence Ministry surrendered a whopping Rs 16,000 crore in the five years of the UPA rule.
The Defence Minister returned to the Government kitty nearly Rs 5,000 crore in the 2003-04 budget, Rs 1,300 crore in 2005-06, Rs 3,000 crore in 2006-07, Rs 4,200 crore in 2007-08. It is estimated that the Ministry will surrender Rs 400 crore in the current fiscal also.
Despite repeated assurances by the Government that funds will not be a constraint in equipping the soldiers with the best weapons, the unspent capital outlay tells a different story.
In fact, the cumulative impact of the paucity of weapons and equipment was felt acutely in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks in November last year as the armed forces were not ready for a conventional war. They were simply not equipped to carry out military strikes against terrorists in Pakistan and the Government was forced to hasten the procurement of weapons through fast track.
Given the reluctance to utilise the allocated funds over the years, the armed forces were not able to procure a whole range of weaponry ranging from artillery guns, tanks, aircraft, ships, electronic warfare systems and radars to name a few.
To quote an instance about the state of affairs on tardy pace of modernisation, the Army was yet to buy new 155mm artillery guns since 1987 in the wake of the Bofors scandal. While the services were not so concerned with big-ticket items, they wanted equipment for maintaining operational preparedness and repeated surrendering of funds every year took a toll of this crucial aspect, sources said here on Wednesday.
Highlighting the importance of this factor, they gave the example of the troops engaged in counter-terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East. They were yet to be equipped with the state-of-the-art and lighter bullet-proof jackets, night vision devices, top quality rifles and communication systems, sources said here on Wednesday.
Elaborating upon the aspect of operational preparedness, they said in case the Government decided to exercise the military option against Pakistan, the Army lacked long range artillery guns to pummel strategic locations and the IAF did not have enough number of precision guided ammunition to neutralise terrorist camps without collateral damage.
As regards the poor radar coverage of the 7,000 km long coastline in the aftermath of the terrorists sneaking into Mumbai through the sea route, the story was same as the proposals to acquire radars and patrol boats were there on paper but non-utilisation of funds saw virtually no acquisition in the last couple of years, they said.
Reasons like contractual obligations overlapping two financial years and long gestation period of defence deals due to stringent technical trials and price negotiations were justified in delays and, therefore, unspent money.
However, fear of witch-hunt of military and civil bureaucracy in defence deals and probes by various agencies were major factors behind the slow rate of modernisation. Sources said officials and for that matter political leadership was scared to take a decision in defence procurements and more so when the incumbent Government was to face an election within the next 100 days. Appreciating these reasons, Defence Minister AK Antony admitted here on Wednesday that "unnecessary procedures, bottlenecks and red-tape" should be cut down for hastening procurement procedures.
"We need to cut down on the unnecessary procedures, bottlenecks and red-tapism in our procurement mechanism," he said while addressing a seminar. The Minister said “even though our Government is earmarking huge budgets, it is not being fully reflected in our modernisation efforts.”
Elaborating upon this aspect, Antony said “allocation of money has never been a problem. The issue has rather been the timely and judicious utilisation of the money allocated.”
He said the Government had come up with the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) to cut down red-tapism and delays and if required, further changes can also be made.
"We have framed our defence procurement procedures. If changes in the present procedures are required to ensure speedy procurement, we will examine them," Antony said. He also urged the armed forces to timely and judiciously utilise the money allocated to them.
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