NEW DELHI : The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has pulled up the Army for more than 28 years of delay in indigenisation of Tatra trucks, which is the most extensively used
vehicle for mounting missiles and radars. In its latest report, the CAG also castigated BEML for the lapses, as the public sector undertaking was responsible to carry out the indigenisation process. BEML and the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) had signed an agreement for Tatra vehicles way back in 1986.
“Objective of attaining 86 percent indigenisation by 1991 was envisaged by BEML. However, till 2014 the target is yet be attained,” the report noted.
Tatra trucks shot into prominence two years ago after a discloser by then Army Chief General VK Singh, who is at present member in the Union council of Minister, that an arms dealer had offered him bribe to get the Tatra truck file cleared.
Founded in 1850, Tatra supplies trucks to at least 23 militaries including the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. In 1973, Israel was so impressed by the Tatra trucks captured from its Arab adversaries that it began importing them, using Rumanian president Nicolai Ceausescu’s cash-starved regime as a conduit. In 1986, when India began a great wave of military modernisation, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s government picked up Tatra. Public sector giant BEML was given a licence to manufacture the trucks. In the years since, almost 7,000 trucks have been built.
Even though Tatra did not sell trucks directly to the Army, it is believed that it still sold high-priced components to BEML – and thus had an interest in ensuring that the sales continue. There are claims that Indian-made four-wheel drive platforms cost Rs 18 lakh or less, to the Tatra’s Rs 80 lakh – and that the BEML-made Tatra sells for substantially more than it is available off the shelf abroad.
The CAG report said BEML attributed the delay mainly to the failure of Ministry in placing order for sufficient number of vehicles between 1986 and 1991. The process for indigenisation of Tatra suffered due to lack of clear long-term projection of orders by the Army to BEML.
“As a result, the objective of self-reliance in production of Tatra vehicles was defeated,” the report said. Further Indigenisation of spares for the vehicles was also inordinately delayed as the process itself was initiated in 2007, after 21 years of the agreement, the report said. Because of non-availability of spares, the situation has worsened, due to a shortfall in respect of 43 percent of indigenised spares.
This would affect the overall maintenance process of the vehicles, the report said, adding that given the number of TATRA vehicles used by the Army, there is an urgent need to speed up indigenisation process and increase production levels in respect of indigenised spares.
(AGENCIES)
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