Irregularities in CSD buys under scrutiny by Himanshi Dhawan.
Hi-tech floor wiper is categorized as a manufacturer, which also supplies thandai as brand owner
An “importer” supplying ayurvedic hair oil morphs as a manufacturer supplying ginger cough drops
The Board of Administration cleared 17 food and beverage items for sale at the defense canteen stores without receiving hygiene inspection reports to certify the products
These are just some of the irregularities pointed out by the controller of defense accounts and integrated financial advisor (principal controller) Savitur Prasad to the defense establishment. The communication accessed through an RTI filed by activist Subhash Agrawal indicates blatant violation of the rules and regulations framed for procurement of supplies through the canteen stores department (CSD) that has put the health and lives of millions of defense personnel at risk.
CSD caters to the daily requirements of the armed forces personnel and their families and is expected to provide consumer goods of high quality to the troops at a price cheaper than the prevailing market rates. In order to ensure that service personnel get the maximum range of necessary items with best quality, the Board of Administration (BOA) meets every month to approve items keeping in view the troops’ needs. The annual spending of the public exchequer for these products amounts to Rs 10,000 crore.
Prasad, in a letter in April 19, 2012, has pointed out that the exact opposite of these intentions was happening. As financial advisor he received no communication regarding the factory inspections and hygiene checks for 589 products, which had been cleared by five previous BOAs between December, 2010 and December, 2011.
Referring to the BOA held in March, 2012, Prasad said that 91 items were introduced from 45 firms. Of these, 17 items were in the category of edible, beverage and liquor. “Hygiene reports for none of these reports have been received,” he wrote a month after the BOA had cleared them. Pointing out that a company, S.A.I Brushes, supplied hi-tech floor wiper was categorized as a manufacturer in one section, while the same firm was described as a brand owner supplying thandai, Prasad said, “It is incomprehensible how a wiper manufacturer is also accepted for supply of thandai (which is an edible item), to CSD, that too without factory inspection and hygiene report.”
Citing other examples, the letter said, “It is not clear whether the mandatory condition of hygiene certificate are being fulfilled by obtaining the same from Army Medical Authorities before placing the order, for cases approved in earlier BOAs.”
Recommending a review of all BOA decisions, Prasad wrote that procurement without fulfilling the condition of mandatory hygiene certification was a “serious violation” and could jeopardize the “health and medical safety of defense forces.”
In his defense, BOA chairman and general manager admitted that hygiene inspection reports are delayed. In response to Prasad’s letter Major General R Suresh replied that since the hygiene inspection was a multi-stage process and there were delays it had been decided in a meeting in 1999 that all cases of new introduction, where initial orders had not been placed beyond three months after the date of approval of an item by BOA, would be reviewed by the Board with related reports including factory inspection and hygiene reports. -via The Times of India.
Irregularities in CSD buys under scrutiny
These are just some of the irregularities pointed out by the controller of defense accounts and integrated financial advisor (principal controller) Savitur Prasad to the defense establishment. The communication accessed through an RTI filed by activist Subhash Agrawal indicates blatant violation of the rules and regulations framed for procurement of supplies through the canteen stores department (CSD) that has put the health and lives of millions of defense personnel at risk.
CSD caters to the daily requirements of the armed forces personnel and their families and is expected to provide consumer goods of high quality to the troops at a price cheaper than the prevailing market rates. In order to ensure that service personnel get the maximum range of necessary items with best quality, the Board of Administration (BOA) meets every month to approve items keeping in view the troops’ needs. The annual spending of the public exchequer for these products amounts to Rs 10,000 crore.
Prasad, in a letter in April 19, 2012, has pointed out that the exact opposite of these intentions was happening. As financial advisor he received no communication regarding the factory inspections and hygiene checks for 589 products, which had been cleared by five previous BOAs between December, 2010 and December, 2011.
Referring to the BOA held in March, 2012, Prasad said that 91 items were introduced from 45 firms. Of these, 17 items were in the category of edible, beverage and liquor. “Hygiene reports for none of these reports have been received,” he wrote a month after the BOA had cleared them. Pointing out that a company, S.A.I Brushes, supplied hi-tech floor wiper was categorized as a manufacturer in one section, while the same firm was described as a brand owner supplying thandai, Prasad said, “It is incomprehensible how a wiper manufacturer is also accepted for supply of thandai (which is an edible item), to CSD, that too without factory inspection and hygiene report.”
Citing other examples, the letter said, “It is not clear whether the mandatory condition of hygiene certificate are being fulfilled by obtaining the same from Army Medical Authorities before placing the order, for cases approved in earlier BOAs.”
Recommending a review of all BOA decisions, Prasad wrote that procurement without fulfilling the condition of mandatory hygiene certification was a “serious violation” and could jeopardize the “health and medical safety of defense forces.”
In his defense, BOA chairman and general manager admitted that hygiene inspection reports are delayed. In response to Prasad’s letter Major General R Suresh replied that since the hygiene inspection was a multi-stage process and there were delays it had been decided in a meeting in 1999 that all cases of new introduction, where initial orders had not been placed beyond three months after the date of approval of an item by BOA, would be reviewed by the Board with related reports including factory inspection and hygiene reports. -via The Times of India.
Irregularities in CSD buys under scrutiny
No comments:
Post a Comment