Trishul missile project not shelved: Pranab

New Delhi, Oct 17: Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee today dismissed media reports that the Trishul missile project has been shelved, and said he has already given extension to it last month.

''Since last evening there has been a good deal of confusion about the shelving of the project. I would like to point out that the project has not been shelved,'' Mr Mukherjee told reporters on the sidelines of the Naval Commanders' Conference here.

He said the project's completion date was to be over by December this year.

''But DRDO sought my approval for extension of the project. I have given my approval to it on September 29. Therefore, there is no question of shelving that project.'' According to media reports, the problems afflicting the Trishul project are non-availability of critical components and sub systems due to sanctions, and shortage of experienced scientists during the critical stages of development of the missile.

The Defence Minister said the present controversy was not about the merit of the weapon system.

The FIR already filed by the CBI related to the cases referred to the Defence Ministry on which investigation took place in the Commission. When the Commission could not complete its work, the government decided to send all those matters to the CBI. After investigations, the CBI in some cases found that these were fit cases to file FIRs, he added.

''It is not about the merit or demerit of a weapon system or any other weapon system. It is about whether the procedures have been duly followed and whether there is any criminality in the transaction. Only on these two issues, the FIR has been filed. But the entire (media) focus is on whether a particular system is good or bad-- it is not the issue. The issue is totally different,'' he said.

UNI