New Delhi: Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said India’s armed forces are “reasonably and sufficiently equipped” to defend the sovereignty of the country.
Jaitley’s remarks on Tuesday came after opposition lawmakers raised concerns in the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) about a key report highlight shortages of ammunition in the military.
A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) last week said the Indian army was battling critical shortages of ammunition.
“The army was facing shortages of ammunition especially for its tanks and artillery, and 121 out of the total 152 types of munitions do not meet the minimum levels needed to fight a full-scale war,” the CAG had stated.
The report also talked about insufficient steps taken after 2013 to improve the ammunition stockpile of the armed forces.
“As per the operational requirements target set for 2019, the army should be equipped with ammunition which could last for 40-days of intense war,” it said.
On Tuesday, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ramgopal Yadav said the CAG report on shortages of arms and ammunition comes amid tension on the borders with China and Pakistan.
“Why don’t we have arms and ammunition to fight more than 10 days of war? The people are concerned. Please do whatever is needed to save the country,” Yadav said in the House.
Congress leader Ripun Bora said major decisions for defence procurement taken by previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government have not been approved by the current government.
“A Rs165 billion [Dh9.41 billion] plan prepared by the Defence Ministry has not yet been implemented,” he said.
“The Comptroller and Auditor General had in its report pointed to very bad condition of Indian Navy with 38 accidents taking places in the last few years. The safety organisation too has not been functional because of lack of approvals,” he added.
Reacting to that, Jaitley said the CAG report has reference to the shortage of ammunition in relation to a point of time.
“The report has reference in relation to a particular point of time. Substantially thereafter significant progress has been made. Thereafter procedures have been simplified, powers have been decentralised and the armed forces are reasonably and sufficiently equipped — that we assure this House,” he said.
“A particular report was given in 2013, as a follow-up of that another report has been submitted recently, it will probably be taken up before Public Accounts Committee (PAC). We don’t discuss CAG report but I don’t want to rest on that technicality,” Jaitley added.
The government recently delegated power to Vice Chief of Army to directly procure 46 types of ammunition to fight short and intense wars without going to Defence Ministry.
