People's Democracy

ONE BILLION DOLLAR ARMY DEAL TO TATAS?

�Indigenous Self-Reliant Development  And Security Being Compromised�

CITU president M K Pandhe has urged the union defence minister A K Antony to urgently intervene to ensure that the public sector navaratna company Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) remains the nodal production agency of Tactical Communication Systems (TCS) for Indian Army with necessary support from DRDO.

In a letter written to the minister on March 05, 2009, Pandhe referred to reports that the new one billion dollar order for Indian Army�s TCS is being given to Tata group which is having a tie-up with the European-based EADS firm. He stated that this would amount to not only abandoning of principles of indigenous self reliant development but also compromise our national security.

Later, a delegation of trade union leaders led by Tapan Sen, CITU secretary and MP, met the minister on March 07, 2009 and submitted a memorandum on this issue. The minister assured the delegation that he would consider their views and accordingly ordered for a meeting of secretaries in defence ministry to be held on March 13, 2009. S Prasanna Kumar, CITU secretary and BEL Workers Union president, Professor B K Chandrashekar, president of BEL Workers Unity Forum and Gangadhar Bhustalimath, general secretary of BEL Workers Uunion, C V Krishnappa, general secretary of Unity Forum were part of the delegation which met the minister.

It is learnt that two persons, one high ranking retired Army officer and another woman who has retired as the defence production secretary in the ministry have joined Tata group and are now keenly engaged in diverting the the ongoing projects developed by BEL to Tata group.

Below we give full text of the letter written by M K Pandhe to the defence minister on this issue

AS you are kindly aware, Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), a navaratna defence PSU (DPSU) was nominated as nodal production agency for Tactical Communication System (TCS) by ministry of defence way back in 1997, as it had proven expertise and experience in developing, engineering and supplying communication system in tactical battle field for Indian Army. Since then BEL has been developing TCS in consultation with Army, while DRDO has been working on security and encryption technology. Apart from the financial involvement of Rs 60 to 70 crore approximately by BEL, there is a huge opportunity cost in terms of self reliance and security. As Indians we take pride in these developments achieved through years of sustained efforts which were highlighted in the reports presented in parliament and to the people of this country.

In view of the above I am constrained to invite your immediate attention to the disquieting reports that the order of 1 billion dollar i.e. more than Rs 5000 crore for TCS for Army is intended to be placed on M/s Tata Group which has recently tied up with M/s EADS, a conglomerate of European Companies, ignoring BEL�s ongoing activity in this area. These reports get credibility in the light of the efforts made by some vested interests to utilize Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2006 and 2008 to bring in private companies through back door in the name of competition. This is despite the fact that DPP has a specific provision that such ongoing development project as in the case of TCS should continue and question of involving any other party does not arise. In this particular case, no Indian private entrepreneur has the experience and expertise of BEL. The whole exercise appears to be aimed at induction of an imported system through an Indian company at the cost of jeopardising the sensitive strategic communication system of the Army, as well as the security of the country.

The backdoor manoeuvring is apparent as Integrated Defence Services (IDS) has constituted a Feasibility Committee to examine the capability of indigenous TCS designer and manufacturers which reportedly includes representatives from FICCI and CII without any representation from BEL or other DPSU! I do not understand how CII and FICCI can be involved officially in this exercise as it is a clear case of conflict of interest as these representatives like the CEO of Tata Power Strategic Electronics Division representing CII are the interested parties to corner this 1 billion dollar deal.

I therefore urge upon you to immediately intervene so that BEL remains the nodal production agency of TCS in Army with necessary support from DRDO and principles of indigenous self reliant development and security is not compromised at the behest of FICCI and CII lobbies.