CRPF chief seeks better weapons from Indian defence firms

SOURCE : PTI

Import of gadgets and weapons for the security forces is “not a happy situation” as foreign manufacturers do not meet Indian requirements in an optimal fashion, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Director General Pranay Sahay said on Friday.

The CRPF chief also said that indigenous research and development done by local companies was “not up to the mark”.

“We have seen that the local industry has been unable to produce what the forces need. The gadgets and weapons are largely imported and this is not at all a happy situation”, he said at a conference organised by industry body PHDCCI.

Speaking on ‘Expectation of Counter-insurgency Forces from Industry’, the CRPF chief, whose about three-lakh personnel is the mainstay of counter-Maoist operations, said procurement of high-end gadgets like Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and weaponry is being done from overseas which is a time consuming exercise and is “affecting operations”.

As the procurement requirements of the central security forces keep fluctuating, only second rung international companies participate and “we have to depend on indigenous organisations like DRDO, Ordnance factories and central public sector undertakings”.

“They (Indian firms and PSUs) have their own limitations. They cannot produce as much as we need”, he said.