ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Defence Production on Thursday complained to the parliamentary committee that the ministry of defence was not releasing its budget, thus creating a financial crunch in the country’s arms production.

Retired Lt Gen Ijaz Chaudhary, secretary of Ministry of Defence Production (MoDP), while briefing the Senate Standing Commi­ttee on Defence Production, said he was responsible for the performance of the ministry and accountable to its audit also.

“The problem is that our budget is attached with the main defence budget and granted to the defence ministry by the finance ministry, but the defence ministry releases our money as per their adjustments,” Ijaz Chaudhary said.

He said the budget of the MoDP should be released directly to the ministry by the finance division so that their projects could be executed in time.

The Defence Production Division was within the Ministry of Defence till 1972, but in 2004 the Ministry of Defence Production (MoDP), headed by a federal minister, was set up.

The MoDP secretary also said that the budget of the defence production ministry had been cut by around 50 per cent in five years, whereas the budget of VVIP aircraft had been attached with the budget of MoDP.

The chairman of the committee, retd Lt Gen Abdul Qayyum, and other members of the committee were surprised over details that the VVIP aircraft were procured by the aviation division and were at the disposal of cabinet division, but their budgets were tagged with the MoDP.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2018