Bhubaneswar: The Congress in Odisha on Tuesday said the Rafale deal was a "big blow" to Odisha as around 40,000 youths of the state were deprived of getting jobs in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which has its manufacturing unit in Koraput district.
The party has decided to make the fighter aircraft deal a major plank during the 2019 general election.
All India Congress Committee general secretary and former minister of state for defence Jitendra Singh on Tuesday told reporters: "Had Rafale aircraft been made in India, as decided by the UPA government earlier, the engines would have been built at HAL's Sunabeda factory in Korput district and generated jobs for Odia youths. But, the Narendra Modi government has opted for off-the-shelf purchase of aircrafts."
Singh said the UPA government had decided to purchase 126 Rafale aircrafts from Dassault Aviation, a French aerospace company, and according to the international bid opened on December 12, 2012, the purchase rate per aircraft was around Rs 526.10 crore.
Eighteen aircrafts were to come in "fly away" condition from France, while the rest 108 were to be made in India by HAL with "transfer of technology". However, he said that after the NDA government came to power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 10, 2015 announced emergency "off-the-shelf" purchase of 36 Rafale aircrafts for Rs 60,145 crore at Rs 1,670.70 crore per aircraft.
