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Journalism of Courage
The Army has cracked down on its welfare housing organisation after an internal audit pointed to discrepancies in several projects and has decided to replace a Major General who heads the body before initiating multiple inquiries to fix accountability.
Sources said the Army has decided to replace Maj Gen S Narasimhan,who is currently the Managing Director of the Army Welfare Housing Organisation AWHO. It would appoint a new officer of the same rank soon before starting formal courts of inquiry,sources said.
The AWHO is a welfare body of the Army that constructs and sells housing units to serving and retired soldiers on a non-profit basis. The sale of housing units is done on a lottery basis and its mandate is to provide units at the most affordable costs without compromising on quality. The audit report was ordered by Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh. A board of officers that included seven Lt Gens completed the task earlier this year.
It is learnt that after the replacement of Maj Gen Narasimhan,the Army will initiate a range of inquiries into the objections found in the internal report. The action will be supervised by Lt Gen Jatinder Sikand,who is shortly slated to take over as the next Engineer-in-Chief of the Army.
Details of the courts of inquiry which specific projects or individuals to be charged have still not been disclosed. Sources say the functioning of the AWHO has been stalled for the past six to eight months due to the extensive audit that was being carried out. Work on many major projects had been delayed as officers involved in them were summoned to New Delhi for the audit and files and documents were seized.
The AWHO is also facing heat from the defence ministry that has asked the Army for a report on several allegations of malfunctioning that have appeared in recent months. In June,Defence Minister AK Antony asked the Army for an explanation after reports of financial discrepancies emerged in a project being developed near Kochi.
