Three Boeings for VVIPs to cost Rs 1,000 crore

The Cabinet today approved the acquisition of three Boeing 737-700 business executive jets at an estimated cost of over Rs 1,000 crore.

The jets, to be delivered by January 2009, will be fitted with missile deflecting security suits at a cost of Rs 200 crore.

"These jets will replace the two Boeing 737-200 aircraft purchased in 1983 for VVIPs," Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said today after a meeting of the Cabinet committee on security, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

This apart, the Cabinet also okayed Home Minister Shivraj patil's five-day visit to China, beginning tomorrow. India and China will sign a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in intelligence and security-related information.

The decision to purchase the jets comes shortly after the delivery of three Embraer Legacy jets. Five of these jets have been purchased at a cost of about Rs 780 crore. While the Embraer aircraft will be used for domestic flights, the Boeings will be for international trips of the president, the vice-president and the pime minister.

A set of two aircraft (one Embraer and one Boeing) will be set aside for the prime minister and another for the president and the vice-president. The third set will be kept as a spare. While three of the Ebraer jets have already arrived in India, the remaining two are expected in the next 12 months. These jets, like the new Boeings, are also fitted with US-built missile deflecting security systems.

The Cabinet approved the raising of four battalions of Territorial Army for Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. The battalions will be called the Home & Heart Battalions.

Further, it was decided that for the modernisation of the state police, the Centre will now bear 75 per cent of the total expenditure for the 'B' category. Earlier the its share was 60 per cent. Instead of the earlier three categories "" A, B and B1, there will now be only two categories "" A & B.