Army is prepared for any eventuality: Arun Jaitley

Defence preparedness is a continuous process and the armed forces are all well equipped with arms and ammunition, says the defence

New Delhi: There should not be any doubt about defence preparedness and availability of arms and ammunition, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

Answering supplementary queries during question hour, the minister said defence preparedness is a continuous process and the armed forces are all well equipped with arms and ammunition.

"There has been a considerable progress in indigenous manufacturing also and this has been going on for several years," he said.

Jaitley was responding to supplementary questions from members including K C Venugopal (Congress), E T Mohammed Basheer (Indian Union Muslim League) and Manoj Rajoria (BJP).

Venugopal referred to recent media reports quoting serving Vice Chief of Army that preparation is not up to the expectation.

When asked about the CAG report that says the Army is equipped with ammunitions to last just 22 days as opposed to the mandatory 40 days period, Jaitley informed the House that significant developments were made on this front since the report was released. However, he did not give any details yet asserted that no one need have any doubts about the armed forces’ preparedness.

The Defence Minister also confirmed that the ordnance defence factories and defence PSUs (public sector undertakings) are going to continue and no employee will be retrenched. "The core expertise of these ODFs (ordnance factories) is (manufacturing) ammunition and they will continue to do that," he said.

With inputs from UNI