Prof K Nageshwar: CAG exposes army plight (Video)

, , , CAG||CAG exposes army plight PRESS RELEASE OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER & AUDITOR GENERAL OF INDIA 10, BAHADUR SHAH ZAFAR MARG NEW DELHI 03 FEBRUARY, 2020 C & AGs Audit report on Union Government (Defence Services) Army presented in Parliament. Audit Report No.16 of 2019 Union Government (Defence Services)-Army for the year ended March 2018 has been laid on the table of both Houses of Parliament. This Report contains the results of audit of the financial transactions of Ministry of Defence pertaining to Department of Defence, Army, Military Engineer Services and Defence Research and Development Organisation in 2017-18. Significant audit findings of the Report are given below: Provisioning, procurement and issue of High Altitude Clothing, Equipment, Ration and Housing Troops in high altitude areas such as Siachen, Ladakh etc need to be provided High altitude clothing, equipment, special ration and housing facilities to enable the troops to effectively with stand the inclement weather and ailments caused from extreme cold weather conditions. Performance Audit findings of provisioning and procurement of these items during the period 2015-16 to 2017-18 are given below: Clothing and Equipment There were delays in procurement of high altitude clothing and equipment items up to four years leading to acute shortage of essential clothing and equipment items. There was critical shortage in snow goggles ranging from 62 per cent to 98 per cent. The troops were not issued multi-purpose boots from November 2015 to September 2016 and had to resort to recycling of available boots. Further, old versions of items such as face mask, jacket and sleeping bags were procured which deprived the troops from the benefits of using improved products. Lack of research and development by defence laboratory led to continued dependence on import. Special Ration- Special scales of ration are authorized to the troops to meet their daily energy requirements. However, substitutes in lieu of scaled items were authorized on cost to cost basis which resulted in supply of reduced quantity of substitutes. This compromised the calorie intake of the troops by as high as 82 per cent. At Leh station in one instance it was noticed that the special ration items were shown as issued to troops for consumption without their actual receipt. Housing- Project for improvement in housing conditions of troops in high altitude area was executed in an adhoc manner. In the first two phases of Pilot project extensive summer/winter trials were conducted. The third phase constituted confirmatory trial, at a cost of `63.65 crore. This was avoidable, since the first two phases were exhaustive. Further, the sanction by the competent authority for the main project was not obtained. Handing over assets created under pilot project to the units got delayed much beyond stipulated time frame, depriving users of resources which were already scant in challenging climatic conditions. There were discrepancies between the assets shown in Numerical Asset Register and assets on the ground. (Chapter- 2) Inordinate delay in setting up of Indian National Defence University (INDU) The Kargil Review Committee in 1999, recommended setting up of a University to address deficiencies in Indias Security Management System. The Union Cabinet accorded (May 2010) in-principle approval for setting up of Indian National Defence University (INDU) in Gurgaon, Haryana at an estimated cost of `395 crore. The land was acquired in September 2012, however, setting up of INDU is yet to fructify even after two decades of Kargil War. The cost of the project was also revised from `395 crore (May 2010) to `4007.22 crore (December 2017) i.e. an increase of 914 per cent. Draft IDU legislation was still (August 2019) lying pending for approval with Cabinet Secretariat since December 2017. Sub-standard construction of Other than Married (OTM) accommodation and perimeter road Lack of effective supervision and technical inspections by authorities of Military Engineering Services (MES) led to sub-standard constructions, resulting in unfruitful expenditure on construction of (a) OTM accommodation of `6.86 crore for Army Workshop at Suratgarh, (b) OTM accommodation of `7.77 crore for Military Hospital at Bikaner and (c) Perimeter road `2.37 crore at Military Station, Banarwith further liability of `1.30 crore on account of rectification cost. The assets so created could not be put to use for the intended purposes. (Paragraph 5.3) For Full Report: https://cag.gov.in/sites/default/files/press_release/Press%20Brief%20Report%20no.16.pdf