In the wake of Colonel M N Rai’s death in an encounter with militants in Kashmir three days ago, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday said he has instructed the Army to ensure that there are no casualties in the force “as far as possible” during such operations. He noted that the Army has taken necessary precautions. The Minister’s directive came a day after his visit to Rai’s family here. Parrikar said that he assured them of all help. “My instruction to Army is very clear. As far as possible, ensure that you don’t lose any men from your side,” he said on the sidelines of a function here. He also said the Army has taken proper precautions during the last two months.
When asked about Ecuador restricting flying operations of Indian-made Dhruv helicopters following a spate of mishaps there recently, Parrikar asserted that the helicopters are good. He said Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAl), manufacturer of Dhruvs, was asked to set up additional depots for spares in Ecuador. It bought seven helicopters from India in 2009 for 45 million dollars and four of them have met with accidents so far.
Explaining the decision for setting up depots, Parrikar said, “there is a problem of getting spares in time. HAl has taken a decision to keep Rs400 crore aside for built up of spares. It might take three to six months.” Two teams of HAl engineers are now in Ecuador to ascertain the cause of two recent accidents which took place within the last fortnight.
Meanwhile, on the issue of much-delayed ‘one rank one pension,’ Parrikar said his Ministry would finalise modalities for the scheme by next week and file would be sent to Finance Ministry for further action. He said that the scheme was approved in principle earlier and discussions are on to fix modalities adding the process was fast-tracked and he has already held several meetings on it.