BPMS: Drastic reduction in Budgetary support to
Ordnance Factories
REF: BPMS /MOD /Budget /186 (8/1/R)
Dated: 10.02.2018
To
Smt. Nirmala Sitharamari, Defence Minister,
Government of India,
South Block, New Delhi
Sub :
Drastic reduction in Budgetary
support to Ordnance Factories
Hon'ble madam,
With due regards, I would
like to bring the following for your kind personal
intervention at the earliest please:-
We
were not surprised on your statement speaking on the
eve to mark 90
years of the setting up of leading industry body FICCI
on 14.12.2017
when you said: "This may be a proper and suitable
occasion to say that I
am doing a major review of the ordnance factories, to
make sure we
understand where they are, what is it that they have to
be given, are
they going to be in a position to be joint venture
partners for people
trying to benefit from transfer of technology… so OFBs
(ordnance factory
boards) are also being looked into."
But we
are consternated to
note that all of a sudden the government has
drastically cut down the
Budgetary support of the Ordnance Factories, both for
the Revised
Estimates for the year 2017-18 and the Budgetary
Estimates for the year
2018-19. In the current year Value of Issue for Army
was planned at Rs.
14496 crore which has been reduced to Rs. 11419 crore
(reduction by
21.22%). Budget Estimate for the year 2018-19 indicates
reduction from
Rs. 14872 crore to Rs. 11743 crore for issues to Army.
Due to this,
spares of 'A' Vehicles and Artillery Guns, sighting
Systems and
Electronics, General Stores and Clothing, Small Arms
cannot be supplied
to Army. This will have a cascading adverse effect on
the capacity
utilization of concerned 12 Ordnance Factories, pay
pocket of employees
and society at large.
As a major
stakeholder, this development is
being view with great concern as it directly and
brutally affects not
only the Defence Production sector per se, but the war
preparedness of
the Nation too.
In this connection we seek
to bring to your kind
attention various correspondence of this Federation
wherein we have
reiterated the fact that depending on the Private
Sector on critical
supplies have been a failure till date and will
continue to be so in the
future too, after all, this sector cannot just perform
on the single
point agenda of “return on investment”, the mainstay of
the private
enterprises.
Suffice to mention once again
that the private
sector can only make sound & fury but cannot
deliver due to the
vagarity of the situation prevalent in defence
purchases.
It is
worth to mention here that erstwhile Defence Minister,
Shri Manohar
Parrikar had been encouraging the Ordnance Factories'
employees/organization as they ensured defence
production upto Rs 14,000
crore in the financial year 2015-16. He noticed that
the output of the
ordnance factory had improved for the first time by 17
per cent. It was
stagnant for four to five years and hovering around Rs
10,000 to Rs
11,000 crore. He used to say, "
Ordnance
Factories have
achieved new milestones in production of ammunition and
defence weapons.
These defence establishments have a bright future for
feeding defence
products for security of the nation. Now, ordnance
factories are eyeing
production of Rs 20,000 crore in near future,"
The drastic
reduction in Budgetary support, it is apprehended, will
entail stoppage
of supplies of various critical spares, general items,
electronic items
and even small arms and ammunitions, directly affecting
the work load of
more than a dozen factories and thousands of
workmen.
In view of
the above, we seek your kind personal intervention in
the matter with
an request to restore the budgetary support to its
original state to
avoid a major collapse of supplies which may eventually
cause impediment
to the war preparedness of the Nation.
An
immediate action in the matter is therefore
solicited.
Thanking you in anticipation.
Sincerely yours
S/d,
(MUKESH SINGH)
Secretary/BPMS &
Member, JCM-II Level
Council (MOD)
Source : BPMS
