EFFORTS SHOULD BE MADE TO REDUCE DEFENCE IMPORTS: FERNANDES
DEFENCE MINISTRY CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE
MEETS
The Defence Minister Shri George Fernandes has
called upon the Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) to
make all out effort to reduce country’s dependence on defence
related imports. He was addressing the meeting of the consultative
committee attached to his ministry in Bangalore today. Shri Fernandes
stressed the need by the DPSUs to work in the direction of increasing
exports. He said that money allocated to defence related projects
is fully utilized. Shri Fernandes said that there will be no shortage
of funds for Research and Development by these DPSUs. Defence
Minister noted that the DPSUs, inspite of being in the Public
Sector and profit being not the sole consideration, were still
by and large making profit.
Referring to the production schedule of Sukhoi
fighter aircraft, the Defence Minister said that there is a need
to compress it. Regarding Intermediate Jet Trainer, he said that
it will be test flown very soon. Commenting on the upgradation
of the MiG-21 aircraft, Shri Fernandes said it is still left with
a life span of 20 years.
The members of Parliament while complimenting
the efforts of various DPSUs suggested measures to improve their
performance. One member suggested not to go for manpower reduction.
Another member was of the view that export by these undertakings
is very less in comparison to country’s defence imports. A member
was of the opinion that companies like Bharat Earth Movers Ltd.,
while diversifying should explore the possibilities of manufacturing
farm related equipment. Another member suggested an overall review
of the working of these PSUs. He was of the opinion that Ministry
of Defence should take up the issue of procuring more orders for
these DPSUs from other Ministries like Railways and Ocean Development
in these DPSUs should not be linked to their turnover as these
companies are working in the field of defence.
Earlier the CMDs of all the eight DPSUs i.e.,
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., Bharat Electronics Ltd., Bharat Earth
Movers Ltd., Mazagon Dock Ltd., Garden Reach Shipbuilders and
Engineers, Goa Shipyard Ltd., Bharat Dynamics Ltd., and Mishra
Dhatu Nigam Ltd., gave a detailed presentation about the achievements
and future projections of their respective companies.
The Members of Parliament, Dr. Nihal Chand, Kunwar
Akhilesh Singh, Shri Mansoor Ali Khan (From Lok Sabha), Shri TN
Chaturvedi, Shri S Agniraj, Shri Kripal Parmar, Shri SR Bommai
and Dr. Vijay Mallaya (from Rajya Sabha) attended the meeting.
The Minister of State for Defence Shri UV Krishnam Raju, Secretary
(Defence Production and Supplies), Shri Subir Datta, Secretary
(Defence Finance), Shri M Kumaraswami and other senior officials
from the Ministry of Defence and the DPSUs were also present in
the meeting.
