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.”
Published - August 21, 2014 09:00 pm IST
