TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The outgoing Goa Governor Bharat Vir Wanchoo has spent the greater part of his working life protecting VVIPs. On July 5, 2014 , it seemed to many that he needed to protect himself when the CBI came calling to question him.
However, it is learnt that he himself was looking forward to this interaction, to take the CBI back to the winter of 2003, when the National Security Advisor to Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, Brajesh Mishra, recommended changing the specifications of the operational requirements for the fleet of helicopters that the government was planning to buy and was close to sealing the deal with Eurocopter France for the supply of EC-225 helicopters.
According to Raj Bhavan sources and further corroborated by CBI sources, the Goa governor’s stand was more of a reiteration of the facts available with the CBI including a detailed statement by the Defence Ministry in September 2013, on the decision to cancel the negotiations with Eurocopter and the process which led to the selection of Agusta Westland.
The deal ultimately passed through several technical and financial filters before being cleared by the Technical Oversight Committee, Contract Negotiation Committee and finally by the Cabinet Committee on Security. However, there was one meeting held on March 1, 2005 which does not find mention in the Defence Ministry’s February 2013 note.
A meeting was called by the National Security Advisor (NSA) M K Narayanan (now
governor of West Bengal) to evaluate the security specifications of the helicopters from the point of convenience and comfort of the VVIP as well as the security entourage. This meeting was attended among others by BV Wanchoo the head of the SPG which directly looked after the prime minister’s security.
It was at this meeting that that it was learnt that Brajesh Mishra had first suggested in a meeting on November 19, 2003 that the PM and president have rarely made visits to places involving flying at an altitude beyond 4500 meters. In the meeting it was recommended to make the mandatory requirement for operational altitude of 4500 meters rather than 6000 metres. This would enable other operators which flew at lower heights eligible and avoid a single vendor situation. The higher flying ceiling of 6000 meters, and a cabinet height of 1.8 meters could be made desirable operational requirements. It was observed that with these revisions, several helicopters which otherwise met all requirements had been rejected due to the altitude restriction of 6000 meters and above, would now come into the reckoning.
Then on December 22, 2003 Brajesh Mishra wrote to the air chief stating “It is unfortunate that neither the PMO nor the SPG was consulted while framing these mandatory requirements. He suggested that the CAS (cabinet secretary) and defence secretary may jointly review the matter to draw up realistic mandatory requirements satisfying operational, security and convenience requirements of VVIPs and also set in motion a fast track process for selection and acquisition of the replacement helicopters.”
The March 1, 2005 meeting was held, incidentally after Dr Manmohan Singh became prime minister and a change of the NSA. The new NSA led meeting endorsed Mishra’s views to have helicopters that could fly at 4500 metres and above and not 6000 meters and above and a cabin height of 1.8 metres to allow the security team full standing height, during complex rescue operations.
These recommendations were debated further till the defence acquisition council called for fresh request for proposals (RFPs) from which three helicopter companies bid-Sikorsky USA (S-92), AgustaWestland (EH-101) and Rosboron Export Russia (MI 172). The Russian company was then not selected as it did not pay the earnest money deposit (EMD) and did not sign the integrity pact. In 2008 field trials were conducted in the UK and USA for the two helicopters whichwere attended among others by BV Wanchoo and a IG level officer of the SPG. Thereafter the staff evaluation report followed by the Technical oversight Committee to study all procedures were followed, cleared the purchase of EH 101 helicopters from AgustaWestland and the Contract Negotiation Committee of the government closed the deal at 556.26 million euros, approved by the Cabinet Commitee on Security for the contract to be signed on February 8,2010
In this entire five year duration, Governor Wanchoo’s participation was during the March 1, 2005 meeting and a member of teams to do field trials. The governor is reported to have told the CBI that if the March 1, 2005 meeting was to be considered as the decisive meeting, then the November 19 meeting held by NSA should also be termed “decisive” because the exact revised specs were suggested/recommended then.
The NSA MK Narayanan led meeting endorsed the points on purely professional grounds which were a) The PM and the president don’t normally fly at heights above 4500 meters for health reasons, therefore the height critera could be reduced to 4500 feet. This would allow other companies to compete for the tender and b) The cabin height requirement should be increased, and this was SPG’s input too, to allow greater flexibility during operations.
