Fours years after acquiring Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to boost up surveillance, Navy is still to deploy them inviting serious censure by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
"Twelve UAVs purchased at a cost of Rs 567 crore in the wake of Kargil Review Committee recommendations could not be utilised due to injudicious selection of operational sites and inability of the Navy to complete infrastructure facilities in time for their operations," the CAG said in its latest report on Air Force and Navy tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.
"Audit scrutiny revealed that the infrastructure for deployment of the UAV was not created at the proposed strategic site," the report said.
The report further added it took four years for acquisition of land, soil testing and preparation for estimates at the deployment site.
Though the UAVs were delivered between December 2002 and March 2004, sanction for works at deployment site was issued only in March 2005, the report said.
"The entire fleet procured at a cost of Rs 567 crore has consequently been used minimally for training purposes," CAG observed.
It said, no operational advantage was realised despite the Defence Ministry resorting to a non-competitive process of procurement citing the Kargil crisis.