The Government’s Rs 1,420-crore ambitious project, Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC), India’s indigenous global navigation satellite system which was conceived way back in 2006, is yet to become operational.
In its report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) of India noted that an expenditure of Rs 1,283.93 crore had been incurred on the programme so far, it is yet to be operationalised due to delays in execution of contracts, deficient monitoring of programme and inadequate follow up.
The NavIC is an initiative of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Department of Space (DOS), to build an independent satellite navigation system to provide position, navigation and timing (PNT) services over a Primary Service Area (PSA) comprising of India and its surrounding region extending up to 1,500 km.
The NavIC consists of a space segment, ground segment and user segment. The space segment comprises of a constellation of seven satellites which were launched between July 2013 and April 2016. Expenditure of Rs 1,162.21 crore was incurred on launch vehicles and maintenance of the satellites and the ground segment, the CAG noted.
The ground segment is responsible for maintenance and operation of the NavIC constellation.
The user segment comprises frequency user receivers capable of receiving NavIC signals. The CAG which conducted an audit of the management of NavIC covering the period 2012-17, noted that though the space segment has been completed, NavIC remained non-operational due to non-completion of ground and user segment.
The CAG found that there were delays in realisation of key components under the programme which led to idling of the satellites. As the life of a navigational satellite is 10 to 12 years and the satellites already launched under the programme remained idle for 14 months to four years, delay in realisation of the NAVIC programme would limit the duration of their utility once the programme became operational, it said.
The delays were attributed to sites not being ready, revisions in the technical specifications, non-compliance with contract specifications by the contractor, administrative reasons, delays in shipment and delays in completion of civil works.
“While some of causes for the delay were unforeseeable and beyond the control of ISRO/DOS, a substantial part of the delays were attributable to inadequate follow-up, lack of coordination with Government and other agencies as well as sheer administrative laxity. As a result, the components could not be realised within the stipulated duration.
The matter was referred to the DOS in October 2017 but its reply was awaited as of December 2017, said the CAG.