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US company poses no danger to national security: Naidu
Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (India) Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday refuted charges that he had compromised the national security by hiring an American company to provide satellite imaging of Andhra Pradesh's coastline.
Defending his decision in the Assembly, Naidu said that the Space Imaging Corporation (USA) was hired since the Indian satellites were not equipped to provide satellite imaging with one-metre resolution. "Our satellites can provide images with resolution up to 5.8 metres. So, we decided to give the job to the American company capable of providing images with one-metre resolution," he pointed out.
Naidu said that the AP State Remote Sensing Application Centre had entered into an agreement with the Space Imaging Corporation on August 22, 1999, at a cost of Rs 4.8 crore. Rs 48 lakh had been paid as advance to the company. The data mapping of the 20-km wide area along the 960-km coastline was meant for use in the studies under the AP Hazard Mitigation and Emergency Cyclone Recovery Project.
The Chief Minister admitted that the State government did not obtain the Centre's permission before signing the agreement with the American company. However, he maintained that the Defence Ministry ultimately cleared the proposal after holding a meeting with all concerned.
He also informed that the State government has approached the Department of Space for procuring the data from the Space Imaging Corporation and handing it over to the State through the ANTRIX Corporation, which has been appointed as the sole distribution agency for the data from the US Company. The government has paid Rs 2.6 crores to the ANTRIX Corporation for data procurement. He said that the data would be handed over to the government by the ANTRIX after scrutiny and verification by the National Remote Sensing Agency.
Congress members, including Dr M V Mysoora Reddy, expressed concern over the deal with the American company. Dr Reddy contended that the State government was not competent to deal directly with the American company as all such matters came under the Central list as per the Constitution. He also said entrusting the satellite imaging to a foreign company amounts to a breach of national security since Andhra Pradesh had important defence establishments, R&D laboratories and defence undertakings.
Source: The Hindustan Times, India, Feb 21,2001
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