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Defence Ministry diktat on cutting fuel use by 40% stumps armed forces
What next, Government might propose that we disband our armed forces.
NEW DELHI: The defence ministry has asked the armed forces to reduce fuel use by 20-40% as the sharp increase in prices has upset budget calculations, leaving soldiers, commanders and analysts bewildered and worried about the country's overall defence preparedness.
Pilots are wondering if they should fly fighter jets with half-full tanks while the army is struggling to find ways to economise on crucial movement of men and material across rough terrain or to cut the use of diesel in lighting up camps and barracks in remote areas along the 15,000-km international border, where many stretches are not connected to the electricity grid.
Official sources said the supplies and transport directorate under the defence ministry recently wrote to defence commands, saying allocation of various fuels would be cut by 20-40% in the current fiscal, depending on specific requirements and unique needs of the army, navy and air force. Rising electricity tariff across the nation too has inflated expenditure on large cantonments and defence establishments.
International crude prices, which have risen 8% in the past week, as well as the depreciating rupee, which is sinking to record lows, have made diesel for bulk buyers nearly 20% costlier than the state-set rates for motorists. While state transport undertakings have happily switched to petrol pumps, the defence forces have no such option.
Experts are worried. "As it is, the frequency of core-level exercises has come down due to limited fuel. Mechanised exercises of defence forces are becoming expensive. If fuel prices go up further, there will be more limitations in training our armed forces," said Lieutenant General (retd) Prakash Katoch, who has co-authored the book India's Special Forces.
Defence forces, among the biggest fuel consumers in India, spent over Rs 7,000 crore on petroleum products in 2012-13. This includes Rs 4,090 crore spent by the air force and Rs 1,661 crore by the navy, according to Laxman Behera, research fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA).
The defence budget for 2013-14 rose barely 5.3% to Rs 2,03,672 crore, compared with the 17.6% expansion in the previous budget. Behera terms this growth as negative in view of rising fuel prices and inflation.
Air Commodore (retd) Jasjit Singh, director-general of the Centre for Air Power Studies, questioned the wisdom of cutting fuel supply. "It is possible for private airlines to save fuel by managing routes efficiently. But you cannot fly combat aircraft with half-full tanks. I am not aware on what basis the instructions have been given to reduce fuel consumption. I don't know how to save ATF in training. Movement of all supplies requires fuel. What we need is more efficient vehicles. However, changing your fleet also involves a huge cost," Singh said. He said inadequate fuel may hit peacetime activities such as training and overall preparedness.
Oil industry executives said prices had been adjusted in line with market trends. "In the past six to eight weeks, with the weakening of the rupee against the dollar and firming up of crude oil prices, the difference between retail and bulk diesel price has gone up by over 9 per litre. With diesel price rising for institutional consumers, state transport undertakings are purchasing fuel from our retail network resulting in a 60% drop in our bulk trade," said N Srikumar, executive director of IOC. The state-run company meets most of the petroleum product needs of defence forces. Defence personnel said the forces were doing their best to save on costs. "In the past five years, prices of diesel and LPG have gone up by 20-25% and 150-300%, respectively. The quantities of fuel allotted to the commands are enhanced or reduced based on the change in prices. However, austerity measures have been instituted to save revenue expenditure as fuel prices are going up. Energy conservation is something all of us are seized of and we are trying to save costs," said a defence ministry official, who did not want to be identified. He said the ministry has not sought any relief from the ministries of finance and petroleum.
Sources said the annual allocation of jet fuel will be reduced by 20% of the average consumption last year while petrol and diesel supplies will be reduced even more.
"You cannot cut salary, LPG consumption to feed personnel and certain other operations in defence activities. Hence, decision-makers prefer to control spend on energy first, when they have to reduce revenue expenditure. However, cutting down energy consumption hits your defence preparedness as soldiers are less mobile and not very well-trained, especially in case of air force and navy, where one must gain experience of a certain numbers hours of flying and sailing every year," said Behera of IDSA.
What next, Government might propose that we disband our armed forces.
