Nearly 100 ex-servicemen from Ludhiana gathered near the Canteen Supply Depot (CSD) at Jagraon bridge on Sunday,to protest against,what they termed,was poor supply of ration from these depots. According to Brig P S Toor (retd),the protests were held in other cities as well. The former servicemen say that the canteens are irregular and do not provide sufficient amount of ration. Col R S Shahid (retd) said personnel faced major problems in buying cars and two wheelers as the CSD authorities were delaying payments to dealers,despite collecting the full payment,for the vehicles,from servicemen. Because of delay in payment,the dealers are losing interest in entertaining ex-servicemen and it is the same problem with grocery items as well. Most of the time,we hardly get anything in the CSD and a few products have been missing from the stores for months together, added Major S S Aulakh (retd). Major G S Jallawalia (retd),a 93-year-old,ex-serviceman said: Lots of difficulties are being faced in purchasing refrigerators,ACs,washing machine and other goods for similar reasons. It appears that restrictions are being placed over supply of grocery on station basis. The ex-servicemen also stated that while the number of officers have increased,the supplies have not kept up and hence have resulted in the shortage. The members urged the Ministry of Defence to look into the problem,as they added,that it was creating a lot of inconvenience to serving and retired officers. At times,we even go back because there is hardly any stuff in the depot, said Capt S K Sood (retd) while Col R S Sohi (retd) added:The stores have also not been upgraded according to the number of officers registered with the depots. Because of limited space,at times the doors of the depots are closed after a certain number of officers are let in. The rest of us are told to wait outside.
