Wednesday, August 24 2005 16:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The government today (Aug 24, 2005) admitted that Indian Air Force (IAF) was short of 341 fighter pilots against the sanctioned strength, but brushed aside suggestions that this could be due to the big gap in emoluments meant for commercial and fighter pilots.

"The sanctioned strength of Pilots in IAF is 3263 and actual strength as on first of August is 2922", Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister told Rajya Sabha today. The Minister said that 236 pilots had quit service during the past three years, but the Government had no information whether these pilots had joined the private airlines.

He said similar shortfalls were also there in officer cadres and army as well as the navy." Deficiency of officers in the rank of Lt colonel and below in army is 10,650, shortfall in IAF officer cadre is 508 and in Navy 1,244".

When asked if the big gap in salary between IAF and commercial pilots could be the reason, Mukherjee said the job profile and job requirements of pilots of IAF and in commercial airlines were different and not comparable. However, he said that the improvement in the job profile of IAF pilots was an ongoing phenomenon.