Article Posted on : - Apr 25, 2010

A File Photo.

NEW DELHI (PTI): The Planning Commission has been sternly told by a Parliamentary panel not to interfere in the decision making process of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), especially in the ambitious Human Space Flight programme.

In a strongly-worded report, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests said that it "fails to understand that when the Space Commission, the highest policy making body of the Department of Space, has given the go ahead to this (HSF) programme, why stumbling blocks were created at the government level.

"Planning Commission should not come in the way of conception and realisation of a programme only because it is instrumental in providing allocations for the Department," the report which was tabled in Lok Sabha recently said.

The Committee is headed by Rajya Sabha member T Subbarami Reddy.

Government has already approved the pre-project activities for the Rs 12,400 crore human space flight project.

"We are now seeking phase-wise approvals for various steps in the project," an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) spokesman told PTI when asked to comment on the report.

The Committee appeared miffed at the drastic reduction in the allocation for the HSF at the Revised Estimates stage in 2009-10.

In its report, the Committee noted that while the HSF was allocated Rs 238 crore at the Budget Estimates stage, it was reduced to Rs 30 crore at the Revised Estimates stage.

It said that the Department of Space had submitted the Budget Report for the HSF which was reviewed and cleared by the Space Commission, as well as by a high-level Committee chaired by the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission.

"However, it was indicated through the subsequent discussions that the Human Space Flight programme could be taken up in phases and the first phase should focus on developing critical technologies such as crew module, service module, crew escape system, environment control and life support systems," the Committee report said.

It noted that the R.E. provision, therefore, had been reduced in view of the pre-project activities.

The Committee expressed the view that the HSF should not only be taken up in the right earnest but also be made successful at the earliest.

"The Committee strongly recommends that the right to take final decision in scientific and technical matters should be vested with the Department of Space only and financial constraints should not be allowed to come in its way towards progress of these crucial and critical programmes," the report said.