‘Navy spent too much during Kargil war’

Apart from the Navy even the Army commanders of the northern and eastern command got an earful for financial irregularities.

The CAG found misuse of special financial powers of disbursement of Rs 10 crore given to Northern Army commander to meet urgent and immediate requirements of counter-insurgency operations and internal security duties.

In an indictment on the misuse of funds meant for anti-militancy operations, the CAG rapped the Army of buying sub-standard stores including bullet proof patkas and jackets worth Rs 3.12 crore which had an ‘‘adverse impact’’ on the ongoing insurgency operations.

On the import of naval missiles, the CAG said that it was done on a single-tender basis unlike imports of the same missiles by the Army which had considered four offers.

It said while the Army had paid $(US) 28,000 per missile from the same firm in March 1996, the naval missiles were procured at $(US) 54,000. Similar contracts with Russians in the past had provided for maximum price escalation of five per cent per annum.

The report said that the missiles were to be received 40 days from the date of advance payment released on July 16, 1999 were delivered 77 days after the scheduled date of delivery.

The Navy had projected a long-term requirement for 240 anti-aircraft missiles during the Ninth Plan and even after the Kargil operations, the Navy had 312 of these missiles still in stock, the CAG report said.

Commenting that the import of these missiles at an unduly high cost was avoidable, CAG said that the response from the MoD to these queries was still awaited.

Similarly, on the import of 34,000 cartridges for the Air Force, the report said that the proposal projected as an urgent requirement during Operation Vijay and the deal was concluded with a foreign firm for the supply of these cartridges at the cost of Rs 749 per cartridge.

Though the cartridges were required to be supplied in 1999 while the Kargil operation was on they were actually delivered in March 2001 after payment of $(US) 5,93,300. Even after meeting the operation requirement of Operation Vijay, IAF was still holding 17,599 cartridges in stock rendering the imports unnecessary.