“The job of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is to build and operate satellites and provide satellite-based services to users. It does not sell spectrum and does not allocate spectrum,” the former ISRO Chairman, G. Madhavan Nair, said here on Tuesday.
Reacting to press reports about the Comptroller and Auditor-General's inquiry into the spectrum deal, he told journalists, on the sidelines of a technical festival at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, that ISRO was one of the “cleanest” organisations in the country.
Pointing to a clarification issued by the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday, he said that it had refuted reports in the media about revenue loss.
“No transaction has taken place; hence there is no loss of revenue. No decision has been taken by the government on use of spectrum space. This clarification is absolutely accurate,” he said.
Investment on a transponder in the orbit was nearly Rs. 300 crore. “How can one collect back Rs. 2 lakh crore from that investment? What is the arithmetic and business plan? Has somebody looked into it,” he asked.
Terming the points made in the media report premature, because the satellite was yet to be launched, he said this reflected “the absurdity of the whole report.”
Mr. Nair contended that ISRO had not landed in any difficulty and it now functioned as smoothly as it did in the past. On a question over the contract value, Mr. Nair said it came under the purview of the Department of Space and that he could not comment on it. Also, with regard to the recommendations made by ISRO in 2010 regarding the spectrum, he said it was up to the present Chairman to give the details.
