, NEW DELHI: A day after reports spoke of the government shelving the Trishul anti-missile project, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said it had been given an extension.
“The Defence Research and Development Organisation had sought approval for extension of the programme. I have given my approval on September 29,” he told reporters here.
Maintaining that there was “no question of shelving the project”, Mukurjhee told newsmen on the sidelines of the Naval Commanders conference that some “confusion” had arisen as the project's completion date was to be over by December 2006.
“That was an old decision,” the defence minister said, pointing out that DRDO had been allowed to go ahead with the project, that has been dogged by repeated failures in missile guidance and control systems.
On Monday, officials had said the government intended to close down the Trishul project.
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