Journalism of Courage
A row has erupted over delay in supply of medicines, transport items and spare parts to Indian troops serving in UN peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Lebanon. There is a blame game on between the Army, Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the government-owned enterprise Balmer Lawrie, which has handled transportation of supplies in the last two years.
Responding to queries, the Army has acknowledged that troops posted in UN missions have been “adversely” affected by late delivery. Internal correspondence accessed by The Indian Express shows that delivery of some sea containers to the Congo and South Sudan have been delayed by almost a year. Damages have been claimed from the transporter — in one instance, for the expiry of a huge consignment of medicines.
Letters written by the Army brass posted in the Directorate of Staff Duties state that delivery to Indian troops should be on door-to-door basis, delivered ideally within a 60-day period. Warning letters by the DG and DDG to the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Shipping went out on September 23 and September 26.
One letter stated: “There has not been any container movement during the last one year due to which no stores have been supplied to Indian troops deployed in UN missions. The same has affected the operational efficiency of troops in international environment…”
“Stores such as medicines, oils and lubricants which have already been collected and not yet transported to mission areas are about to expire because of limited shelf life. These stores, if not transported to mission area in time, will expire and would be a loss to State,” the letter stated.
Earlier, the Integrated Finance Division, in a letter to the Army dated September 17, pointed out that the onward agent hired by Balmer Lawrie had “retained containers in his own custody, thereby denying Indian troops the provisions dispatched to them by the Ministry of Defence… as the Indian troops have been without replenishment for last one year, it is requested that Ministry of Shipping be enjoined to make available vessels for shipment of defence cargo to UN mission locations at the earliest.’’
When his comments were sought, Viren Sinha, Chairman and Managing Director of Balmer Lawrie, said they had won the Army contract for shipment of defence stores to Indian troops in UN missions in December 2012. Of the 44 containers, there were minor delays in delivery of 14, and later 16, containers to the Congo, South Sudan and Lebanon, he said.
According to Sinha, this was on account of delayed delivery of Customs Duty Exemption Certificates (CDECs) and the “ongoing war-like situation” in some destinations. For instance, he said, the delivery of one container marked for Malakal (South Sudan) was stuck because the road had “disappeared”. It was only in November 2013 that permission was given to them to make the delivery in Juba, also in South Sudan, he said, adding that some reached their destination in November.
A real problem, he acknowledged, had occurred in delivery of eight containers — six were to be delivered to Indian troops posted in the Congo (Goma, Kiwanja and Riwindi) and two containers to South Sudan (Malakal).
In a statement, the company said: “Because of inordinate delay in getting the CDECs from the destination countries, we had incurred a very large amount as ground rent, port charges etc, which amounted to Rs 1 crore. We wanted clarity on the payment of these and hence, there was delay. We finally took a call to make a payment to the Mombasa Port Authorities and clear the consignment pending finalisation.”
The company also pointed out that it was presently making efforts to get a waiver from the Mombasa Port Authority for the ground rent and port charges, and that they had also filed a claim of Rs 9 lakh towards cost of medicines which were meant for Indian troops, but had run out of shelf life.
To the suggestion of the Integrated Finance Division that the Ministry of Shipping be kept in the loop, the Army spokesperson, in response to a query from The Indian Express, said “no known record of the Shipping Corporation of India handling the consignments for the UN exists”, and that they had informed the Ministry about the requirement for door-to-door delivery for the Congo mission but received no response.
On the delayed delivery of Army supplies by almost one year, the Army stated that there was a “well laid out procedure through a Board of Officers (BOO) to assess the losses and that vendor will be charged as per Defence Procurement Manual 2009 for the liquidated damage”.
“The vendor was penalised and charged for liquidated damage for delayed delivery,” the Army stated, adding that a rate contract for future supplies to be delivered to troops at UN missions was now in its final stages.
