UN-style speech translation in House – SC clears decks for installation of Bosch audio systems

New Delhi, May 23: Parliament will soon have Bosch digital audio-conferencing systems that will enable UN-style simultaneous translation of speeches made in the House in six languages, including Bengali.

The Supreme Court today cleared the last legal hitch in the way of awarding a contract to Bosch, a German company. Bosch will replace the Brahler ICS systems that have been in place for 18 years in the House as well as at 7 Race Course Road and Vigyan Bhavan.

The new system will have digital conference, digital simultaneous interpretation, digital automatic voice vote recording, voting display system, digital recording and transcription, sources said.

At present, speeches in Parliament are translated manually and notice has to be given in advance that an interpreter will be required on a particular day.

Brahler, also a German company, lost out despite its long track record because it does not have a permanent office in India. It has supplied audio systems for the Bhutan Parliament and several Assemblies in the country.

Brahler admitted that its franchisee AKG Acoustics India, which had installed the equipment, had some problems in 1999-2000 and had turned irregular in its performance.

But Brahler alleged that the CPWD kept the manufacturers out of the servicing scheme, handed out tenders to other companies and later blamed it for not responding to requests for services or spares.

The tender floated by the government clearly specified that any company that would bid would have to have a Delhi office for the last seven years to facilitate smooth maintenance and service. The seven-year specification was later changed to two years.

The tender said applications of a company without an India office would not be considered and would be rejected at the pre-qualification stage itself.

Danish company DIS Danish Interpretation Systems is the other company that lost out in the tender process as it did not have an India office. Both Brahler and DIS relied on Indian dealers for their service and maintenance.

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UN-style speech translation in House - SC clears decks for installation of Bosch audio systems