The force will soon get its first batch of the 5,000 BP jackets.. (Source: Twitter/CMO Maharashtra)
With the Customs Department yet to respond to the Maharashtra Police’s request to waive off import duty imposed on the 5,000 bulletproof (BP) jackets it has procured, the force has to wait a little longer before it can start using the vests. At least nine years after the 26/11 terror attacks from the sea exposed the poor preparedness of the Mumbai police, especially the substandard BP jackets used by the force which led to the death of ATS chief Hemant Karkare and senior police officers Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar, the force will soon get its first batch of the 5,000 BP jackets. Sources say if they don’t hear from the Customs Department soon, they will instead place an order for 4,800 bulletproof jackets.
The order for 5,000 BP jackets has been placed with MKU Industries, which is touted as a world leader in the manufacture of body armour. The Kanpur-based company also supplies BJ jackets and helmets to the Indian Army. The company will be importing the vests from Germany.
The cost of 5,000 vests is pegged at Rs 17 crore with each vest costing at least Rs 32,500. If this duty is not waived off, the Maharashtra Police plans to procure 4,800 vests and use the remaining amount for fetching the Customs Duty. “It is better to reduce the number by a few hundred than not buying at all. The forces need good body armour and we can’t be waiting for an eventuality to expedite the process,” added the officials.
“Seeking exemption from import duty for equipment of items used by security agencies is a general practice followed by almost all states. In the past, too, we had written to the Customs Department to seek waiver on various equipment we purchased. We have sought an exemption and are still waiting for a response. If we don’t hear from them soon, instead of buying 5,000, we will purchase 4,800 so that the remaining amount could be used to foot the Customs Duty,” said an official from the Home Department who spoke on condition of anonymity. When reached for comment, Director General of Police Satish Mathur told The Indian Express that the BP jackets will soon be made available to the force. “The jackets will be divided among the specialised forces like the Force One, the Quick Response Teams (QRT), State Reserve Police Forces (SRPF) and the Commissionerates and district police. They are bullet-resistant vests and would first be sent for testing to laboratories before being used by our officers,” Mathur said.
Before placing the order, the BP jackets have already been tested at the Central Forensic Laboratory in Chandigarh to see if they could be used in combat. They were tested for the AK series of rifles, Self-Loading Rifles, MP5 submachine guns, Indian Small Arms System (INSAS) and other sophisticated weapons and have tested positive. However, a random checking from the sample will be done once again upon their arrival.
According to another senior official from the Home Department who spoke on condition of anonymity, testing of an already-ordered consignment is a standard practice followed by security forces across the country. “Before the equipment or item is pressed to use, it is tested. Samples are picked up randomly from the shipped consignment and once they meet the standards as enumerated in the contract, the equipment or the item is put to use.The quality check is essential to ascertain the order is as per contract,” explained the source.
The debate over the poor quality vests surfaced after the 26/11 attack. A year later, the state government sanctioned Rs 390 crore for modernisation of its police force. This included the purchase of 82 BP jackets costing Rs 6.2 crore. However, the purchase was marred in controversy and in 2010, the vendor was probed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau for inferior quality and allegations of kickbacks. Subsequently, the ATS chargesheeted, Bimal Agarwal, Barkha and Kishore Agarwal, the directors of the supplying company Techno Trade Impex, along with Shrikant Tarwade, who was the Assistant Inspector General of Police (Provision) at the time of the purchase. In February this year, Aggarwal was arrested by the CBI for being an alleged ‘conduit’ of a senior Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer, JP Singh, in the IPL betting case probed by the central agency. A fresh attempt was made in 2012, however, with a tug of war between the Home Department and its Director General of Police Office, no procurement has been made for over a year and-a-half.
