Auto DraftArmy Chief credits government, former Navy Chief for restoration of officer’s ‘ration’ facility

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has
credited former Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba and the government for restoring
the facility of giving ‘rations in kind’ for armed force’s officers.

The facility was withdrawn by the
government in 2017 after the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission.

While addressing a seminar of
retiring officers, General Rawat announced that the facility of ‘rations in
kind’ is starting this month for officers.

“There are many candidates
for its restart but truth is that the credit goes to former Navy Chief and
Chairman, Chiefs of Staffs Committee Admiral Sunil Lanba who pushed the case
strongly with the Defence Minister and no individual can take credit,”
Army sources quoted General Rawat as saying during the seminar.

The Chief also stated that it was
Finance Minister and the Defence Minister who finally took a decision to
restart the service, the sources said.

In August 2017, Lanba had written
a strong letter to the then Defence Minister Arun Jaitley highlighting the
issues related to armed forces and stressed that the government should restore
the ration facility as its withdrawal was not helping in any savings and was
likely to create issues in running defence officer’s mess.

After the government announced the
restoration of the facility, several Army officers have been claiming credit
over social media for the restoration of the facility.

Sources said that the Chief stated
that the intervention by so-called credit claimants only delayed the process
due to conflict of interest.

After the facility has been
restored, all officers of the Armed Forces including those in peace stations
will be getting ration.

The provision for the officers,
however, continued in the field area. The facility of ‘ration in kind’ also
continued for jawans and Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs). The defence
officers in peace areas were paid Rs 96 as ‘ration money allowance’ instead of
the ration. The money was directly credited to their account.

The Chief cited the example of the
ongoing court case of Non-functional Upgrade for defence officers saying it has
been delayed as some individual had approached courts on their own in the case.