Official hints at making Goa permanent venue for Defexpo
31 March 2016 12:05 AM GMT
Speculations that Goa could be made permanent venue for holding the prestigious biennial Defexpo, being held outside Delhi for the first time, got a boost on Wednesday with a senior Defence official saying nobody will ‘regret’ hosting such show in the coastal state.
“Goa will be indebted if something like this keeps on happening on regular basis,” DefExpo Director MD Singh told reporters here without stating clearly whether the coastal state will be made the permanent host for the show.
Goa is the home state of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Defexpo India 2016, the ninth in the series of biennial Land, Naval and Internal Homeland Security Systems Exhibition, is being held outside Delhi for first time.
“This is a clean and green show. The cream crowd from across the world has come here. Nobody will regret hosting this show here,” he said.
Singh said the hotels are filled during the expo despite it happening during the lean tourism season.
"Taxis are fully booked. I am finding difficulty to find a taxi. Next time, we will have it in more systematic way," the Director said.
The four-day event was inaugurated by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday.
The expo faced opposition from certain quarters in Goa earlier with the agitators fearing the land at Betul-Naqueri would be handed over to the Defence Ministry.
However, the BJP-led state government later clarified the structures installed on the land were only temporary.
Singh said the infrastructure for expo was created within a record time. “We were handed over the land on March 7 and on March 28 we inaugurated the show. This is a world record in itself,” the director said.
Newly built Carl-Gustaf M4 launched
A new multi-purpose weapon system, Carl-Gustaf M4, has been launched for the first time in India at DefExpo 2016 by Swedish arm company FFV Ordnance, a part of defence and security company Saab, to mark forty years of its association with the country.
“The Carl-Gustaf M4 is the latest man-portable shoulder-launched multi-purpose weapon system from FFV Ordnance, designed to provide users with flexible capability and help troops remain agile in any scenario,” a statement issued by the company said. For decades, Saab has been represented in India by its fully-owned subsidiary FFV Ordnance in the area of ground combat support weapons.
“The shoulder-launched weapon system Carl-Gustaf is the flagship of FFV Ordnance’s product family and it has a long and successful history,” Bo Th rn, Head of FFV Ordnance said.
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