Monday, November 28, 2011

Faulty planning causing MiG crashes: Rakesh

AHMEDABAD: First Indian astronaut Rakesh Sharma on Sunday blamed faulty planning in defence public sector units for MIG crashes. He was speaking at the annual confluence of Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad.

PSUs like Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Defence Research and Development Organisation ( DRDO) are being run like political and bureaucratic fiefdom, said Sharma.

"The PSUs have the infrastructure but they do not have the expertise," he said. He proposed public-private partnership (PPP) model with Indian companies in these sectors.

As a test pilot with the HAL, Sharma said he would send back fighter planes to the laboratories if he detected snags in their parts. But he soon found out that instead of doing research and development on these parts, the laboratories fitted the parts in another fighter plane. "The parts used to keep repeating the full circle consuming time and energy without any result," he said. The HAL does not even have an in-house test-pilot team, he said.

Sharma said that there is a lack of transparency and accountability in PSUs and officers are not held responsible for poor results. He cited micro management of PSUs through constant interventions from bureaucrats and political leaders as hurdles in their efficient functioning. "The bureaucrats do not understand the process of manufacturing and the politicians understand even lesser than the bureaucrats," he said.

Sharma said there is not much interference in ISRO as the prime minister is busy in other affairs. "They have much autonomy and that is why they are better than the other PSUs," he said.

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