The
Hindu: New Delhi: Friday, 22 August 2014.
After waiting
over a year for the authorities to act on a complaint of alleged irregularities
and corruption at the Hisar Military Station, a Colonel has petitioned the
President and the Defence Ministry seeking their intervention. The Army has
denied the allegations.
After the
officer’s letter in April, urging the authorities to act “in the interest of
national security, morale and motivation of all ranks,” the President’s
Secretariat directed the Defence Ministry to communicate action taken on the
petition directly to the complainant.
The
complaint, also forwarded to the Central Vigilance Commission, alleges
irregularities in certain construction and renovation works at the station,
besides grant of approval for installation of private mobile signal towers. The
officer initially lodged the complaint in March “under Army Order 4/2000, which
clearly mandates two courses of action: action against the delinquent
individual(s) if allegations are proved or against the complainant(s) in case
of false or frivolous allegations.”
He filed
applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking details of
expenses on the constructions and renovations. He sought information on the
signal towers, including a copy of the “MoU” signed with the private company,
asking if security clearance was obtained, if the towers operated on generators
and if they were electricity-driven, seeking bills generated by the Army and
the Military Engineer Services and their payment receipts.
An RTI reply
said there were no permanent towers at the station. Details of the construction
of one Bhishma Dwar, besides some renovation works, were denied citing
exemptions under the RTI Act.
The petition
alleges that after the first RTI application, cover-up actions have been taken.
While the RTI reply denied the existence of one alleged “war memorial,” the
petition cites photographs from the Hisar station’s coffee-table book to show
that the structure existed.
“Actual loss
to the government, or use/misuse of government funds for construction, and
repeated renovations of these ‘showcase’/VIP buildings or loss due to theft,
and neglect of existing married officers’ accommodation, can only be
ascertained if a deliberate inquiry is held,” the complainant said.
Stating that
all complaints were analysed and commented at appropriate levels, in response,
an Army spokesperson, in an e-mail to The Hindu, said: “All works referred to
were executed as part of low-budgeted works, inspected technically by
departmental channels, as also audited and test audited by CAG team. What are
referred to as ‘mobile towers’ are in fact temporary ‘cells-on-wheels’
installed on a temporary basis to provide mobile connectivity to the large
population in the military station and was an essential welfare measure. They
are to cater for their own electricity/generator for the period of their
deployment.”
.JPG)
.JPG)
