Rs 408cr arms factory in Amethi idling away

NEW DELHI: Political manoeuvring to establish defence establishments in locations preferred by ruling parties is yet again in focus, with the CAG severely indicting the government for rushing to start an ordnance factory in Amethi.
The Rs 408 crore project to set up an ordnance factory at Korwa in Rahul Gandhi's constituency by October 2010 was sanctioned by defence ministry almost three years ago.
Strangely, the factory, meant to manufacture new generation carbines, was sanctioned without finalisation of new generation carbines to be produced there. This, coupled with selection of inappropriate site and inadequate monitoring, resulted in slow progress of the project. The project is likely to be delayed badly, thereby pushing back the supply of urgently required carbines to the Army, a CAG report released earlier this month said.
Based on various options available, the MoD decided to set up a new factory for production of carbines. A site selection committee was constituted in May 2006, with specific instruction to use surplus defence land so that problems of land acquisition could be avoided.
The CAG audit pointed out that the site committee evaluated 12 sites and zeroed in on two -- Field Gun Factory (FGF) Kanpur and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Korwa. Though the committee said the 118 acres of surplus land and residential buildings available at FGF, Kanpur were adequate, they did not recommend locating the new factory there, observing that the five existing factories there suffered from militant trade unionism. The committee so recommended Korwa.
HAL had offered 34 acres at Korwa against the requirement of 60 acres. The remaining land was to be acquired, and the issue was pending with the UP government as of November 2009.
In November 2009, Ordnance Factory Board said the surplus land of FGF Kanpur could be utilised for augmentation of capacity for high calibre guns as there was increased requirement of the same. However, it added that addition of a factory in Armapore region of Kanpur might not be desirable from security point of view. The OFB's claims about need for more high calibre guns was not substantiated by the trend in production of past three years and security plea was not correct since five factories were already operating in the same area.
Though the project was to be completed by October 2010, the tender for the procurement of CQB carbine has not yet been finalised. Similarly, user trials of the Protective carbine have not been successful. As a result, neither the choice of CQB carbine nor the Protective carbine have been finalised, resulting in uncertainty regarding types of plant and machinery required to be procured for the factory, CAG said.
The auditor pointed out that while sanctioning a new ordnance factory, the ministry had also failed to learn lessons from the experience of setting up a new factory at Nalanda, which was targeted for completion by October 2005. The project has been badly delayed and resulted in time and cost overruns.