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CAG pulls up CSIR on aircraft programme
| Says it was mismanaged and not well planned |
NEW DELHI: In a serious indictment of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has questioned the way the apex agency’s Bangalore-based National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) has gone about its indigenous aircraft development programme.
Noting that the two-seater HANSA aircraft was still being manufactured with imported components as NAL was yet to develop the sub-systems indigenously, and the project on the nine to 14-seat multi-role SARAS aircraft was suffering from time and cost over-runs, the CAG, in a report tabled in Parliament recently, said a detailed audit of the projects showed that the programme was not only not properly planned but was also mismanaged.
In the case of the SARAS project, the CAG has criticised the NAL for procuring engines with a capacity of 850 shift horsepower (SHP), even though engines with a capacity of 1,200 SHP were required as per the rules for airworthy certification by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and for failing to procure several critical components such as an auto-pilot system.
It noted that while the expenditure of Rs. 1.8 crore incurred on two projects to develop the auto-pilot system indigenously proved infructuous as the projects were short closed since the NAL was not in a position to provide all the necessary data, the “injudicious” procurement of engines had led to an “avoidable” expenditure of Rs.1.34 crore. In addition, 28 seats purchased at a cost of Rs.80 lakh were yet to be installed pending certification by DGCA, leading to the blockage of the fund for more than five years, it said.
On HANSA, the CAG said that even though one aircraft delivered to Andhra Pradesh Flying Club met with an accident and another flown by the Centre for Air Borne System was forced to land as the propeller got detached, the NAL did not have any documents on investigations on the mishaps conducted either by the Laboratory or the DGCA. This, it noted, indicated that it had no mechanism to monitor the performance of the aircraft supplied by it for possible improvement of design for subsequent aircrafts.
Further, it pointed out that as many as seven engines valued at Rs. 64 lakh and five propellers worth Rs. 11 lakh were lying unused because the NAL had no orders for production of the aircraft beyond the 10 originally ordered. It also noted that the NAL had incurred an average manufacturing cost of Rs. 43.3 lakh per aircraft against an estimate of Rs. 5 lakh. This cost also did not count in expenditures on manpower and over-headed charges.
The report referred to a proposal of NAL for developing a 70-seat regional transport aircraft during the eleventh plan period, and urged the Union Science and Technology Ministry and CSIR to keep in view “the poor market demand for HANSA [and] the tardy progress and cost over-run in development of SARAS,” before giving clearance for it.
The audit, which covered the entire performance of NAL during 2002-07, also found that while during the period, 48 scientists resigned and 66 others retired, including 49 senior scientists at F and G scales, it was not able to fill the gap properly. Also, against the target of filing 100 foreign patents in five years, the NAL could file only nine and, in the case of domestic patents, the performance was not up to the mark.
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