Rs 27 crore unspent as rules jam procurement

Weeks after the 26/11 terror attack, the Maharashtra government announced a massive Rs 126-crore allocation to Mumbai Police to buy new arms and modern equipment after being buffeted by criticism that the response to the assault could have been better if the force was well equipped.

Nearly one year after the attack, the force has not been able to spend the entire amount and buy much of the equipment on its shopping list despite floating tenders as the procurement process has got stuck in a maze of antiquated rules.

State government and police officials told The Indian Express that so far only Rs 98.75 crore of the allotted Rs 126.22 crore has been spent, the purchases including dual binoculars, day-vision binoculars, searchlights, digital video cameras, 314 bulletproof helmets, armoured vehicles, boats and amphibious vehicles to patrol the coastline.

The state has also bought new submachine guns, grenade launchers, combat mobiles, bulletproof jackets and helmets. The new weapons include MP 5 submachine guns, pistols by Heckler and Koch, Colt M4 Flat-top carbines (5.56 mm), MP5 tactical machine pistols, Colt M203 under-barrel grenade launchers and Barret M8 A1 long-range rifles.

But the list of high-tech gadgets Mumbai police floated tenders for and is still awaiting arrival of is equally significant, officers said.

Bids were floated at the beginning of this year to buy a total containment vehicle for safe disposal of explosives and hazardous chemicals, portable non-linear junction detectors -used to search and detect devices containing electronic fuses of explosive devices, radio microphones, microphone amplifiers, hidden sound recording devices- and a robot that would be used in hostage situations and to deal with radioactive, chemical or improvised explosives. Tenders were also floated for satellite phones and night vision binoculars, but none of these has arrived.

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