Upset with the Defence Ministry's decision to hold global tenders for small boats such as Fast Interception Craft and patrol boats, public sector shipyards have registered their protest with the Government.
"We are talking about building our indigenous defence industry but we are awarding contracts for even small boats after global tenders. We have told the Ministry that it should either nominate the public sector shipyards for these requirements or allow only Indian companies including private players to meet these requirements," Defence Shipyard sources told Defencenow.Com here.
The objections were raised by the shipyards with the Defence Ministry after the Navy awarded the contract to build 80 Fast Interception Craft (FIC) with the Solas Marine of Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a global tender for 150 boats for the coastal security duties.
Last month, the navy signed a contract for over Rs 300 crore with the Sri Lanka-based firm for 80 FICs for the Sagar Prahari Bal and other requirements of the Navy on the western sea board. I n a similar tender earlier, the Navy had awarded the contract to French firm for building 15 such boats.
Various Ministries under the Government of India are planning to order more than 800 boats in next two to three years to deploy them for coastal security. The orders from the coastal states across the country are also expected to be in the same range. |