Congress demands public debate, detailed inquiry into Rafale deal
Kolkata, Aug 25: Firing a fresh salvo at the Modi government on the Rafale aircraft deal, the Congress on Saturday accused it of ignoring the defence procurement procedure and keeping senior ministers in the dark about the negotiations, demanding a public debate and detailed inquiry into the "secretive" happenings.
Senior party leader P. Chidambaram, while addressing a media conference here, alleged that the price for the aircraft had gone up more than three times under the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime than what was agreed to by the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
We think the matter is serious enough that there should be a public debate and a detailed inquiry, which is why the Congress President (Rahul Gandhi) and the party have raised the issue, he said at the West Bengal Pradesh Congress headquarters here.
Chidambaram said the UPA government had entered into a contract to acquire 126 Rafale aircraft -- 18 of them in fly away condition and the remaining 108 aircraft to be made in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bengaluru, under a transfer of technology agreement with a French company, Dassault Aviation.
"The negotiated price was Rs 526 crore per aircraft. Suppose instead of 18 aircraft, we were buying 36 aircraft at Rs 526 per aircraft, it would have come to Rs 18,940 crore," he said.
However, after the UPA was voted out in 2014 and the NDA came to power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his official visit to France on April 10, 2015, announced that an agreement has been signed to buy off the shelf 36 Rafale aircraft.
Although the price was not revealed, in subsequent documents of Dassault Aviation's report, the price was revealed to be 7.5 billion euros, equivalent to Rs 60,145 crore, Chidambaram said.
The price which was agreed on the Prime Minister's visit was Rs 60,145 crore and per aircraft it comes to Rs 1,670 crore as against Rs 526 crore (negotiated by the UPA), he claimed.
"If these numbers are correct, will someone explain why the price has gone up three times? That is the first question. To which the answer (given by the NDA government) is: 'this is a secret agreement, and we cannot reveal the price'."
"I am revealing the price today, what is so secret about it? It is there in Dassault's annual report which is 7.5 billion euros, which works out to Rs 61,000 crore, and per aircraft it Rs 1,670 core," he said.
Raising questions about the procedure followed to enter into the new agreement, the Congress Working Committee member said: "There is a defence procurement procedure which was completely bypassed. There is a contract negotiation committee, which never met for this deal. There is a price negotiation committee, which was never called to meet for this deal."
"Above all, there is a cabinet committee on security, which has to approve any defence purchase of this size. None of these committees were involved. None of the ministers knew about it. The defence, finance and external ministers did not know about it," he alleged.
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
