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The Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General S. Padmanabhan has said there is no malafide intent in the procurement of the aluminium caskets.
In a letter to Defence Minister George Fernandes, the Army chief said an unnecessary controversy had been created and now could be put to rest.
Padmanabhan's letter to George Fernandes was circulated to the media along with a booklet entitled The whole truth with all the Documents about the Aluminium caskets. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is learnt to have given all support, documents and even the aluminium casket to the veteran journalist and writer R.V. Pandit.
''The book puts the entire procurement in the correct perspective. The chronology and facts have been lucidly brought out for all to see that there was no malafide intent. An unnecessary controversy will hopefully now be put to rest,'' Gen Padmanabhan's letter said. Addressing a press conference former COAS Gen Shankar Roychoudhary said political controversies surrounding defence procurements and the repercussions in the media have brought the process of acquisition of technology for armed forces to a standstill.
''Turbulence generated over the
years from Bofors downwards has brought the whole process of acquisition
of technology for modernisation of armed forces to a halt,'' he said. He
said Bofors was used to score political points with that government and
coffins were being used to settle scores now.
"larifications with the Ministry
has brought to ligfht that the aluminium caskets were bought from the US
after seeking quotqations from Germany, France and U.K." he said. "While
UK saids they have only wooden models, the French reported they had galvanised
caskets. The Germans had only steel ones.," he said. India was lookingm
for the type used by the UN forces, which were available only with the
U.S. he added.
Pandit said the media had ignored
the facts about the procurement. He said investigations done in his ''individual
capacity'' had proved the caskets which the media and the contract referred
to as weighing 18 kgs were the wooden types.
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