As India celebrates Moon landing, Cong says Modi govt didn't pay engineers behind Chandrayaan-3 launchpad

Congress on Thursday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of not paying dues to engineers of Ranchi-based Hindustan Engineering Corporation (HEC) who built the launch pad for Chandrayaan-3 even as Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi wrote to ISRO chief S Somanath "thrilled" over the Moon mission's success.

AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal referred to media reports on non-payment of "salaries for the last 17 months" while emphasising that the "excitement and pride" of the Chandrayaan-3 landing would stay with us for a long time.

Somanath’s leadership "truly created history and we extend our hearty congratulations to him and his team. However, the prime minister must answer some for his hypocrisy. You were quick to come on screen and take credit after the landing, but why has your government failed so terribly in supporting the scientists and the ISRO?" he asked.

"Why did the HEC engineers who worked on Chandrayaan-3 not receive their salaries for the last 17 months? Why did you cut the budget for such crucial missions by 32 per cent? These are the heroes of our country, they run a world-class space research program but you have no regard for their talent and hard work. To add insult to injury, you hogged the limelight when that moment was about the scientists’ achievements," he added.

In her letter, Sonia said she was "thrilled" by ISRO's "magnificent achievement", which is a "matter of great pride and excitement to all Indians, particularly the younger generation".

"ISRO's outstanding capabilities have been built up over decades. It has had remarkable leaders and a spirit of collective endeavour has always driven it. Its being anchored on self-reliance since the early sixties has contributed to its great successes. I wish the entire ISRO fraternity all the very best and extend my warm greetings to each and every member of it on this momentous occasion," she said.

On Wednesday, Congress has said the success of the moon mission was a "collective success" of every Indian and ISRO's achievement reflects a "saga of continuity" and is "truly fantastic".

While Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said they were "deeply indebted to the remarkable hard work, unparalleled ingenuity and unflinching dedication of our scientists, space engineers, researchers and everyone involved in making this mission a triumph for India", former party chief Rahul Gandhi said the Chandrayaan-3’s soft landing on the uncharted lunar South Pole is the "result of decades of tremendous ingenuity and hard work by our scientific community".

Rahul said since 1962, India’s space program has continued to scale new heights and inspire generations of young dreamers.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said ISRO's accomplishments have always been anchored in self-reliance. "They reflect phenomenal teamwork, partnerships and enterprise. The entire world is looking up to ISRO today, acknowledging its achievements, and for us Indians, it is a matter of special pride," he said.

He said the farsightedness of Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai created INCOSPAR (Indian National Committee for Space Research) in February 1962 and one of the first recruits to INCOSPAR was none other than APJ Abdul Kalam.