Cong smells Rs 41,205cr scam in Rafale deal

Bhubaneswar: Alleging that there is a scam of Rs 41,205 crore in Rafale deal, state Congress in-charge Jitendra Singh Tuesday alleged that Modi government has cheated the youths of Odisha as the scam has cost the state thousands of jobs.
Addressing a press conference here, Singh said, “Odisha lost an opportunity to employ more than 50,000 people as Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) in Koraput was not considered for Rafale manufacturing by the NDA government.” He said the contract in the Rafale deal had been snatched away from HAL, a central public sector undertaking, which has its unit in Koraput district.
The Congress leader stated that the UPA government had made a deal with France to purchase 126 Rafale aircraft in December 2012 while HAL was assigned to make the aircraft with transfer of technology.
“But Narendra Modi government cancelled the deal and wanted only 36 aircraft made in France, not ‘made in India’. The Prime Minister flouted all the norms to make the secret deal, which also caused huge loss to the country’s exchequer,” he pointed out.
Under the transfer of technology deal committed by the UPA government, the same 36 aircraft would have cost `18,940 crore, besides involving HAL.
“Can PM Modi explain as to why an extra amount of `41,205 crore is being paid from public money,” said Singh.
“Why did the Modi Government sacrifice the work share agreement between HAL and Dassault Rafale Aviation and allowed an offset contract worth `30,000 crore to a private company-Reliance Defence Ltd, which has zero experience in manufacturing aircraft,” Singh asked.
PCC president Niranjan Patnaik said about 1.20 lakh people could have been employed including 30,000 from Odisha if the Rafale deal with HAL was materialised.