Reasonable decision soon on price of Gorshkov: Minister

New Delhi, Aug 4 (PTI) Negotiations were on with Russia
regarding the price of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and
India was expecting to soon reach a "reasonable decision" on
the issue, State Minister of Defence M M Pallam Raju on
Tuesday said.

"Negotiations are going on regarding the increased
price and I think we will reach to a reasonable decision on
that soon," Raju told reporters on the sidelines of a
presentation to the Members of Parliament (MPs) on Territorial
Army (TA).

The minister said that the Navy needed three aircraft
carriers at any given time and government was going ahead to
procure whatever was available.

"According to Navy's maritime preparedness plans, we
are very clear that we need three aircraft carriers at any
given time and I think Gorshkov is the thing we are pursuing",
he added.

Over 30 MPs from both the Houses were present during
the presentation, which gave an overview of the functioning
and roles of the TA.

Most of the MPs present comprised the 'young guns' of
Parliament such as Congress MPs Naveen Jindal, Deependar
Hooda, Hamdulla Saeed and Nilesh Rane, Samajwadi Party's
Akhilesh Yadav and Biju Janata Dal's Jay Panda and Kalikesh N
Singh Deo.

Speaking on the occasion, Raju said that post 26/11
Mumbai terror attacks, many MPs had shown interest in TA as
the Army troops in the National Security Guards (NSG) had
played a big role in dealing with the strikes by terrorists.

After the presentation, expressing their desire to
enroll with the TA, the young Parliamentarians posed a number
of questions to TA Additional Director General Major General K
V S Lalotra.

Congress MP from Haryana Deepender Hooda asked if the
Army could change TA's training curriculum for MPs who are
willing to join the part-time citizen's Army.

Replying to his query, Maj Gen Lalotra said that the Army
was planning to come up with a model where the duration of
training could be curtailed for experts and specialists
willing to join the non-combat battalions of the force.

First time MP from Arunachal Pradesh Ninong Ering said
that all the young MPs wanted to work hard in their
constituencies but also wanted to serve the country by donning
the olive green uniform. PTI AJD