NEW DELHI – Indian Defence Minister Sitharaman has revealed that Indian AirForce will receive 83 Tejas fighter jets from HAL.

She said that she has received confirmation from HAL that contractsamounting to more than Rs 26,570.80 crore have been signed between 2014-18.

As per the details she provided, the procurement order specificallymentions 83 Tejas aircraft worth Rs 50,000 crore, 15 combat helicoptersworth Rs 3,000 crore, 200 helicopters worth Rs 20,000 crore, 19 Dorniertransport aircraft worth Rs 3,400 crore, other helicopters worth Rs 15,000crore, and aero engine worth Rs 8,400 crore. Orders worth Rs 73,000 croreare in the pipeline and all of them put together amount to Rs 1 lakh crore,she said.

“The above documents clearly confirm correctness of my statement made onthe floor of the House and the doubts raised in this regard are incorrectand misleading,” she said.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge quoted HAL CMD R Madhavan from a reportto support his party’s contention that the company was strugglingfinancially and demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe intothe matter.

He claimed Sitharaman had sought to correct her statement and said wrongfacts should not be put before the House. Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwalquestioned if Kharge would authenticate the report he was quoting, whilesome other BJP leaders took a jibe at the party while referring to adefence dealer, who is wanted in criminal cases.