Admiral Mehta said, "We should not pay anything more than what we have
committed in the original contract (for the Gorshkov)," adding, "`When
we signed the deal, it was fixed-price contract, taking into account
all eventualities of retrofitting."
India currently has 310 t-90s MBTs of which the heavy vehicles
factory in Avadi assembled 181 from the kits im****ted from Russia.
India and Russia have signed a deal worth USD 1.237 billion for the
additional supply of 347 T-90s Main Battle Tanks (MBT).
Part of these tanks will be assembled at Avadi factory in Tamil Nadu
from the kits to be supplied by Uralvagonzavod Tank Plant situated in
Nizhny Tagil in the Urals, according to state-run radio.
It did not, however, say when and where the deal was signed.
Under the Transfer of Technology (ToT) and licensed production deal
inked in November 2006 India will indigenously produce 1000 MBTs.
Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee, Admiral Sureesh Mehta on Monday
said that India should not pay more money than initially agreed for
the acquisition of the Russian aircraft carrier Gorshkov.
Speaking to re****ters a day ahead of the Navy Week celebrations,
Admiral Mehta said, "We should not pay anything more than what we have
committed in the original contract (for the Gorshkov)," adding, "`When
we signed the deal, it was fixed-price contract, taking into account
all eventualities of retrofitting."
India had initially signed the 58 billion rupees (1.5 billion dollars)
deal in January 2004, but the cost is expected to rise after India
accepted the Russian demand of increasing Rupee-Rouble escalation rate
from 2.8 percent as earlier agreed to 5 percent.
The 44,570-tonne aircraft carrier was scheduled to be delivered by
August 2008, but delays in its delivery have raised severe concerns
here, and last week Defence Minister A K Antony said in the Parliament
that the "overall progress of repair and re-equipping of the ****p is
slow."
Admiral Mehta today said that said the Indian Navy now owns the
aircraft carrier, which has been re-christened as INS Vikramaditya,
since New Delhi has already paid more than 400 million dollars for it.
He said that the delay is basically due to the Russian Government
diverting the trained manpower engaged in the repair work of the
aircraft carrier to other ****pyards where they are constructing their
new ****ps and submarines.
``It was Gorshkov project which helped Russian ****pyards provide jobs
when their economy was down. With our money, there has been lot of
prosperity in the (Russian) region,`` he said, adding, "But now,
sudden oil boom has brought about a lot of prosperity, enabling the
Russians to launch new war****ps and submarines, diverting the
workforce.``
Last week, Antony told the Lok Sabha that the Russian side has
submitted a revised Master Schedule indicating a delay in the project
and they have attributed the delays to "growth of work".
Admiral Mehta said that the retrofitting process would take at least
two years, and added, "We have to see where our relations are going to
with Moscow.`
Yashwant Sinha unleashed another withering attack against the Singh
government for essentially selling out India's national interests. He
asked whether the government had been unable to secure acquiring
nuclear reactors from Russia under U.S. pressure.
The Indian Communist leader joined the chorus, arguing that Singh's
government had scuppered a proposed gas pipeline from Iran also under
U.S. pressure.`
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