<p>Had it not been for these three people, the Tejas would not have come up far enough to get the initial operation clearance (IOC) on January 10, former LCA project director Kota Harinarayan told Deccan Herald. “Ratan Tata, Bajaj and former Air Marshal Idris Latif saved the national project from being a thing of the past...,” he said. In 1990-91, Kota said he had attended a review meeting of the LCA programme in Delhi, prior to which a 15-member strong high-level committee including Bajaj, Tata, Latif and some members of Parliament (MPs) had visited facilities in Bangalore to vet the progress team ‘Tejas’ had made.<br /><br />“While the review saw some members appreciate the progress, many of them were not in favour of continuing the project.... That is where Bajaj and Tata stepped in and stood by us,” he recalls.<br /><br />Kota, who had worked with the LCA from the 1980s till 2001, quoted Tata’s statement in the review: “It will be a shame if the project is shelved. Having seen the technology, I am convinced that it will take off.”<br /><br />He added that Tata’s remarks in the review was in sharp contrast to a statement made by one of the MPs (whom Kota didn’t wish to name), who had said: “You have done well. But we have to terminate the project!”<br /><br />Kota also felt Tata’s views on greater private industry role in Indian aeronautics sector was now more relevant than ever. “If aeronautics in the country has to grow further, we need the private sector to intervene in a big way. Especially in infrastructure building and R&D. For we cannot wait for projects to come in to put up the infrastructure,” he said. <br /><br />Attractive market<br /><br />The private players would benefit highly from getting into the sector as India, with its recent successes in projects, was a very attractive market now, Kota said. “They need to know how to use this image in making their ‘turnovers’,” he said.<br /><br />Changing of Indian mindset to let in the private sector into aeronautics was a welcome, Kota said, referring to the research activity in aeronautics going on in private educational institutions.<br /><br />DH News Service</p>
<p>Had it not been for these three people, the Tejas would not have come up far enough to get the initial operation clearance (IOC) on January 10, former LCA project director Kota Harinarayan told Deccan Herald. “Ratan Tata, Bajaj and former Air Marshal Idris Latif saved the national project from being a thing of the past...,” he said. In 1990-91, Kota said he had attended a review meeting of the LCA programme in Delhi, prior to which a 15-member strong high-level committee including Bajaj, Tata, Latif and some members of Parliament (MPs) had visited facilities in Bangalore to vet the progress team ‘Tejas’ had made.<br /><br />“While the review saw some members appreciate the progress, many of them were not in favour of continuing the project.... That is where Bajaj and Tata stepped in and stood by us,” he recalls.<br /><br />Kota, who had worked with the LCA from the 1980s till 2001, quoted Tata’s statement in the review: “It will be a shame if the project is shelved. Having seen the technology, I am convinced that it will take off.”<br /><br />He added that Tata’s remarks in the review was in sharp contrast to a statement made by one of the MPs (whom Kota didn’t wish to name), who had said: “You have done well. But we have to terminate the project!”<br /><br />Kota also felt Tata’s views on greater private industry role in Indian aeronautics sector was now more relevant than ever. “If aeronautics in the country has to grow further, we need the private sector to intervene in a big way. Especially in infrastructure building and R&D. For we cannot wait for projects to come in to put up the infrastructure,” he said. <br /><br />Attractive market<br /><br />The private players would benefit highly from getting into the sector as India, with its recent successes in projects, was a very attractive market now, Kota said. “They need to know how to use this image in making their ‘turnovers’,” he said.<br /><br />Changing of Indian mindset to let in the private sector into aeronautics was a welcome, Kota said, referring to the research activity in aeronautics going on in private educational institutions.<br /><br />DH News Service</p>
