Lt Gen Kalita to defence firms: Deliver products to Army in time

Kolkata: Eastern Army Commander Lieutenant General Rana Pratap Kalita on Tuesday urged the indigenous defence manufacturers to deliver their products to the troops within time.

He was speaking at the inauguration of East Tech 2023, a two-day defence symposium organised by the Eastern Command and attended by nearly 150 representatives of indigenous defence industry, in Guwahati.

Lt Gen Kalita said, "As a follow up of the first East Tech organized in 2022 at Kolkata, Eastern Command had identified more than 87 products for procurement. Since then 26 cases worth more than Rs 66 crores have been concluded and supply orders for another Rs 114 crores have been placed. May I also take this opportunity to urge the industry partners to keep pace with our delivery schedules and avoid slippages in the mandated delivery periods."

He added, "The delays in procurement at Command level are also due to inadequate knowledge of procedures, both on the part of buyers as well as sellers. Hence, we have organized presence of financial advisors who will guide both the buyers and sellers on the methods and opportunities available on GeM portal and address their concerns and queries on the nuances of revenue procurement."

Lt Gen Kalita also underlined the Eastern Command's significant requirements of procuring defence related equipment and technological solutions. "The dynamic challenges posed by our adversary, ranging from conventional war, grey zone warfare and cyber warfare, as also the counter-terrorist and counter-insurgency operations, necessitate constant modernization of our field formations. Our troops need to be equipped suitably to respond to any operational challenge in equal measure," he pointed out.

The Eastern Army Commander further observed, "Our wars have to be fought with our own weapons and equipment. It is therefore imperative for us as a nation, to develop self-reliance in our defense production. This would invariably entail close integration of the indigenous defense industry and the academia with the Armed Forces at all levels. The indigenous defense industry must understand the ever evolving defense needs of our armed forces to meet the ever changing operational challenges and develop indigenous solutions to such challenges."