New Delhi, 15 Dec: A parliamentary panel has recommended to the Centre to have “separate budget heads” for clothing, equipment, ration and housing for high-altitude areas, saying it will go a long way in enabling the country’s troops to effectively withstand the harsh and inclement weather.
The Public Accounts Committee, in a report presented in the Lok Sabha on Monday, also said it may be preferable to have “special provisioning” for soldiers safeguarding the country in the inhospitable and icy climatic conditions of high altitude areas where the temperature falls to as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius.
“This becomes even more crucial in view of the threat to India’s borders, owing to which our troops are constantly in a state of alert for protecting the country’s borders,” it added.
The report on ‘Provisioning, Procurement and Issue of High Altitude, Clothing, Equipment, Ration and Housing’ relating to Ministry of Defence (Department of Military Affairs) was also laid in Rajya Sabha on Monday.
“The detailed examination of the subject by the Committee had revealed that there were instances of delays stretching up to four years in procurement of clothing items from the time of Acceptance of Necessity; there were inordinate delays in receipt of contracted items from Ordnance Factories; delayed procurement action and delayed receipt of contracted items that led to acute shortage of essential clothing and equipment items and adversely affected timely issue of the same to the troops,” the panel said in its report.
It also said that health and hygiene of troops stationed at high altitude areas was “reportedly affected as a result of procedural delays, non-supply or supply of recycled or alternate items at the time of need; lack of research and development by defence laboratories and failure in indigenisation resulted in prolonged and continued dependence on import; substitutes in lieu of scaled items were authorised in a given percentage on cost-to-cost basis which affected the quantity of calorie intake of troops in high altitude areas”.
The panel also observed that “the project for improving housing conditions of the troops in high altitude areas was executed in an ad hoc manner; despite incurring an expenditure of Rs 274 crore, the pilot project was not successful; execution of works and subsequent handing over of assets for use to the units in the most formidable climatic conditions was inordinately delayed and, the Numerical Assets Register(s) (NAR) were not being maintained leading to gaping discrepancies between the assets shown in NAR and those on the ground etc.”.
The Committee has noted that there is “no separate allotment for expenditure on clothing, equipment, ration or housing for high altitude areas”.
The expenditure on High Altitude Clothing and Equipment (HACE) is met from allotment of ‘General stores and clothing’ which also caters to requirements of the Army as a whole. For housing, the Committee noted that the operational works procedure is a special provision which primarily caters for creation of infrastructure along the borders and includes high altitude areas, it added.
“The Committee has noted that Operational Works has a separate budget head and is allotted on an average Rs 800 crore out of which Rs 400 crore is spent for troop formations deployed along the Northern Borders. The Committee notes the Ministry’s contention that with regard to rations, budget allocated is sufficient and no separate allotment in the budget for high altitude rations is required. The Committee also notes that funds are allocated as part of the Army budget in various minor heads, sub-heads and code-heads and that the bifurcation of existing code-heads are need based and not terrain/region based,” the report said.
The panel has acknowledged the fact that the government has authorised clothing, equipment and ration at “enhanced/enriched scales for the troops operating at high altitudes”.
The committee recommended that “it may be ideal to have separate budget heads for clothing, equipment, ration and housing for high altitude areas. Having separate heads of budget amounts, the Committee feel, would help the troops in being provided with commensurate clothing, equipment, housing facility and ration. This will go a long way in enabling our soldiers to effectively withstand the harsh and inclement weather of high altitude areas”.
In its report, it has also recommended that economies of scale may be built into the procurement process to lower costs and the task of building reserves may be completed within a specific timeframe.
“A distinction may be drawn in clear terms between ‘shelf life’ and ‘serviceability’ which would better indicate the usability of a product after due inspection. Regular reviews of the stock in hand may be carried out and the same may be rationalised as per current/projected requirements. All efforts may be made to fully implement phase III of CICG,” the panel said. (PTI)
Directorate General of Quality Assurance may be brought under the Services to make it more responsive and accountable, it has suggested. PTI