Troops Consume Dry Ration, Well Beyond Expiry Date : CAG

[sudhir007]

Chindits: Troops Consume Dry Ration, Well Beyond Expiry Date : CAG

According to the latest Comptroller and Audit General (CAG)'s report tabled in Parliament today, it has been learnt that army personnel posted in the operationally sensitive Northern Command have been consuming dry ration items expired as long back as six to 28 months, besides other irregularities pointed out by CAG.

In the report tabled today on the performance audit of the supply chain management of rations in the Indian Army, the CAG has slammed the army for the quality of eatables provided to troops, absence of competition in the tendering process of fresh rations, the actual product received by the user as against what is shown on paper and irregularities in rates of these and corrective measures for the same.

Army Services Corps (ASC) is the branch of the Indian Army which is responsible for making procurements of dry and fresh rations for the army personnel, and it is headed by the Director General-Supplies and Transport, who is under the Quarter Master General (QMG), in the Army Headquarters. At the Command level, the ASC formation is headed by a two-star officer—Major General Army Services Corps (MGASC).

In a performance audit carried out in the army's Udhampur-based Northern Command, Chandimandir-based Western Command, and the Kolkata-based Eastern Command, all three of which are not only the biggest and the most operationally sensitive Commands of the Indian Army but also account for 70 percent of the total strength of the army. The supply chain mechanism in these operationally active Commands is more complex owing to the tough terrain conditions and dispersal of troops.

From terrain as high as 21,000 feet in high altitude Siachen, to counter-insurgency in Kashmir, manning the volatile borders on the Sino-Indian and Indo-Pak borders on both fronts, the Indian Army is all across in these Commands, braving the challenging weather and the enemy at the same time.

The army does winter-stocking in the Northern Command, as in winters the area is cut off for almost six months. Food and other rations are not fresh but food items are to be issued in accordance with their estimated storage life (ESL), which is a period for which the food item is likely to remain fit for human consumption under normal storage conditions. In special circumstances, ESL maybe extended to a maximum of three months.

CAG discovered that almost all items were granted an extension of life by the Mumbai and Delhi-based Central Food Laboratories (CFL) as per the instructions of the Directorate General Supplies and Transport, which was three months, but the Jammu-based CFL, covering the entire Northern Command granted an extension of six to 28 months to edible items like pulses, flour, rice, tea, sugar, edible oil and raisins, in the dry ration category.

In the fresh rations, serious absence of competition has come to light, with 82 percent of procurements made based on less than three quotations and 36 percent based on single vendor quotations.

Irregularities in prices also have been pointed out by the country's watch-dog. In all cases of fresh rations, the accepted rates were way below the average local market rates determined by the army authorities, which was higher than the reasonable rates determined by the same authorities. Inexplicable and unusual variations in prices in adjacent locations were also noticed. Other irregularities as CAG points out in the report are, that certain varieties of vegetables shown to have issued by the supply depot and received by the consuming units were actually not not procured on those particular days.

In the dry ration category, except a couple of items, there were significant under procurements in all other items. Certain items , like sugar, were procured in excess over and above the provisioned requirement for two years.

The audit findings assessed the provisioning system, procurement as per prescribed procedures, efficiency in management of contracts, distribution according to prescribed scales and standards and satisfaction of the users.

The findings have been unsatisfactory and the recommendations of the CAG include broadening of the vendor base for fresh rations and putting up the list of the vendors on the ASC website. Other recommendations are strengthening the procurement procedure, purchases directly from outside, computerised management of supply chain, development of set of guidelines of dos and dont's, and investigation into abnormal variations in rates of fresh items.

Some benefits pointed out in the audit report is that procurement of items like atta (flour) directly from the market is that not only would it save extra expenditure incurred in grounding wheat but also would save personnel entrusted for this task. The report states, “Going by the calculation, about Rs 25 crore could have been saved annually by procuring atta directly from the market, and would also save the Army's expenditure of operating a detachment of personnel in each mill.”

 

[Spring Onion]

Chindits: Troops Consume Dry Ration, Well Beyond Expiry Date : CAG

According to the latest Comptroller and Audit General (CAG)'s report tabled in Parliament today, it has been learnt that army personnel posted in the operationally sensitive Northern Command have been consuming dry ration items expired as long back as six to 28 months, besides other irregularities pointed out by CAG.

In the report tabled today on the performance audit of the supply chain management of rations in the Indian Army, the CAG has slammed the army for the quality of eatables provided to troops, absence of competition in the tendering process of fresh rations, the actual product received by the user as against what is shown on paper and irregularities in rates of these and corrective measures for the same.

Army Services Corps (ASC) is the branch of the Indian Army which is responsible for making procurements of dry and fresh rations for the army personnel, and it is headed by the Director General-Supplies and Transport, who is under the Quarter Master General (QMG), in the Army Headquarters. At the Command level, the ASC formation is headed by a two-star officer—Major General Army Services Corps (MGASC).

In a performance audit carried out in the army's Udhampur-based Northern Command, Chandimandir-based Western Command, and the Kolkata-based Eastern Command, all three of which are not only the biggest and the most operationally sensitive Commands of the Indian Army but also account for 70 percent of the total strength of the army. The supply chain mechanism in these operationally active Commands is more complex owing to the tough terrain conditions and dispersal of troops.

From terrain as high as 21,000 feet in high altitude Siachen, to counter-insurgency in Kashmir, manning the volatile borders on the Sino-Indian and Indo-Pak borders on both fronts, the Indian Army is all across in these Commands, braving the challenging weather and the enemy at the same time.

The army does winter-stocking in the Northern Command, as in winters the area is cut off for almost six months. Food and other rations are not fresh but food items are to be issued in accordance with their estimated storage life (ESL), which is a period for which the food item is likely to remain fit for human consumption under normal storage conditions. In special circumstances, ESL maybe extended to a maximum of three months.

CAG discovered that almost all items were granted an extension of life by the Mumbai and Delhi-based Central Food Laboratories (CFL) as per the instructions of the Directorate General Supplies and Transport, which was three months, but the Jammu-based CFL, covering the entire Northern Command granted an extension of six to 28 months to edible items like pulses, flour, rice, tea, sugar, edible oil and raisins, in the dry ration category.

In the fresh rations, serious absence of competition has come to light, with 82 percent of procurements made based on less than three quotations and 36 percent based on single vendor quotations.

Irregularities in prices also have been pointed out by the country's watch-dog. In all cases of fresh rations, the accepted rates were way below the average local market rates determined by the army authorities, which was higher than the reasonable rates determined by the same authorities. Inexplicable and unusual variations in prices in adjacent locations were also noticed. Other irregularities as CAG points out in the report are, that certain varieties of vegetables shown to have issued by the supply depot and received by the consuming units were actually not not procured on those particular days.

In the dry ration category, except a couple of items, there were significant under procurements in all other items. Certain items , like sugar, were procured in excess over and above the provisioned requirement for two years.

The audit findings assessed the provisioning system, procurement as per prescribed procedures, efficiency in management of contracts, distribution according to prescribed scales and standards and satisfaction of the users.

The findings have been unsatisfactory and the recommendations of the CAG include broadening of the vendor base for fresh rations and putting up the list of the vendors on the ASC website. Other recommendations are strengthening the procurement procedure, purchases directly from outside, computerised management of supply chain, development of set of guidelines of dos and dont's, and investigation into abnormal variations in rates of fresh items.

Some benefits pointed out in the audit report is that procurement of items like atta (flour) directly from the market is that not only would it save extra expenditure incurred in grounding wheat but also would save personnel entrusted for this task. The report states, “Going by the calculation, about Rs 25 crore could have been saved annually by procuring atta directly from the market, and would also save the Army's expenditure of operating a detachment of personnel in each mill.”

Do they have find out any health problems due to consuming expired food??



And would it not be good to purchase some items from the areas they are deployed, in this way they can help the economy on small scale

 

[booo]

During our trip to Kashmir, We met some very nice military personnel who gave us lot of goodies(badam, fruit juices) to consume during our ride. we drank Real(real is a brand) fruit juice that they gave us. all the 4 tetra packs that we were given were expired. more than an year. but they were still good. probably due to the extreme cold(-ve) conditions they were stored.

But yeah, it feels really bad that they have to consume expired food items.

 

[gogbot]

There is a reason we have these audits, and that's to ensure safeguards against things like this.

Now that these things have come to light

They will most likely be fixed.

 

[sudhir007]

Jawans at borders get stale food: CAG

The Indian Army soldiers posted at some of the most difficult locations in the world along the China and Pakistan border are getting food that is unfit for human consumption and at times is more than two years beyond the expiry date, a latest government report on supply of rations in the armed forces has revealed.

The audit report says the Army has violated its own norms and has been supplying troops with food items, including rice, sugar and wheat, which are way past their expiry date. Most of the cases, the report reveals, pertain to the Northern Command, the largest Army formation in the country that has troops along the Pakistan and China border as well as the Siachen glacier.

“It was found that atta, sugar, rice, tea, dal, edible oil and raisins were consumed six to 28 months after the expiry of their normal storage life,” the report says, adding that the food items were given illegal life extensions by a Jammu-based lab that were against the standing rules of the Army.
While soldiers have been complaining about the bad quality of food served at forward locations, this is the first official report of a large-scale violation of norms across the Northern Command.

The report also suggests a large-scale rigging of prices by revealing that 36 per cent of cases of procurement of fresh rations were based only on single quotations, taking away any scope of competitiveness. Not only that, raising suspicions of corruption, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has found that rations worth almost Rs 2 crore, meant for soldiers in high altitude areas, remain untraceable in the Northern Command. A majority of these rations, the report says, were issued during 2005-06, during which former Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor was heading the Northern Command.

The report also quotes an internal Army study that reveals only one per cent of soldiers in units across the country find the quality of rations they receive as excellent. A majority of the jawans have graded their rations as satisfactory or below.

While the armed forces have been trying to improve rations, the damning report has come as a shocker. The ministry is currently working on a long term plan to improve the quality of food as well as storage locations and is likely to come up with a new set of regulations soon.

 

[uglyindian]

Army buys a bottle of liqour for 200 Rs and ask the company for which my father works to fill it with 100 Rs liquor. and every body makes a great profit.