New Delhi: The defence ministry had sought an amount of Rs 2,15,995 crore under the capital outlay for the defence services for 2022-23 as against the allocation of Rs 1,52,369 crore, according to Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt on Monday. Bhatt said this while replying to a question on allocation made for the defence budget for the next fiscal.
When asked whether the Finance Commission's report indicated that the gap in the defence budget between the estimated requirement and allocation could be around Rs 2.81 lakh crore in 2022-23, he said the figure is based on the 'Defence Plan Projections' made in the past. "Yes, sir. This figure is based on the Defence Plan Projections made in the past," he said. Bhatt further added that an amount of Rs 4,87,739 crore was projected by the defence ministry for the defence services against which allocation of Rs 3,85,370 crore has been received.
"It may be seen that the gap between the projection and allocation is Rs 1,02,369.83 crore. Further, in BE 2022-23, an amount of Rs 2,15,995.43 crore was projected by Defence Ministry under capital outlay on defence services, against which allocation of Rs 1,52,369.61 crore has been received," Bhatt said. "It may be observed that the gap between the projection and allocation is only of Rs 62,625.82 crore," he said in a written reply. Bhatt said the defence ministry proposes projections made by the services under revenue and capital budget to the ministry of finance for favourable consideration.
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"The ministry of finance conveys ceilings separately for revenue (Salary and Non-Salary) and capital taking into account resource envelope of the Government of India," he said. "Thereafter, funds are allocated to services depending upon outstanding committed liabilities, expenditure trend and likely outgo on new schemes," he said. Bhatt said the allocated funds are optimally utilised. "Though the allocations received from Ministry of Finance are not as per projections made, based on the expenditure during the year additional funds, if required, are sought at supplementary /RE (revised estimate) stage," he said.
"It is ensured that urgent and critical capabilities are acquired without any compromise to operational preparedness of the defence services," he noted. To a separate question, Bhatt said a proposal for the acquisition of five fleet support vessels is in the advanced stage. "For design and construction of fleet support vessels, Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) has entered into a collaborator contract as per extant procurement procedures," he said.
PTI
