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Rajya Sabha
In the 21st report of the Standing Committee on Defence in respect of Serial No. 8, para No. 57, the comments of the Committee are as under:-
“The Committee note that during the last ten years, the country has lost approximately Rs. 812 crores due to 13 major incidents of fire in Ordnance /Ammunition depots. The Committee are perturbed to learn that the ammunition worth hundreds of crore of rupees is being kept in highly improper and unsafe manner, sometimes lying in the open, even without a tarpaulin cover, posing a grave risk to human life and avoidable huge financial loss to the exchequer”.
The authorization of ammunition in the Army is approximately 5 lakh Metric Tonnes (MT) and current holding of ammunition is 4,17,101 MT. As against the present authorization and holding, the availability of storage of ammunition is for 4,07,268 MT, leaving 9833 MT ammunition is open, under tarpaulin or under tents. Only such ammunition, which is less prone to deterioration, is being stored on open plinths covered by tarpaulin.
The government has taken up a massive programme for construction of ammunition storage. Rs. 1042 crores have been sanctioned since 1998. The works are in progress and at various stages of execution. The progress on construction of ammunition works is being monitored under the chairmanship of Master General of Ordnance on a quarterly basis, at Army headquarters.
This information was given by the Defence Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee in a written reply to Shri Ekanath K Thakur in Rajya Sabha today.
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