At a time when India is caught in a major military standoff with China at Dokalam, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has presented a dismal picture of the Army’s War Wastage Reserve (WWR) ammunition, especially of high calibre equipment needed to wage intense war.
The report tabled on Friday is a follow-up audit on the measures taken after the CAG’s earlier report on “Ammunition Management in Army,” tabled in 2015.
The new report is an evaluation of the availability of WWR ammunition in the Army during the period 2013-14 to 2016-17 (till September 2016).
Summarising the findings, the CAG observed: “Thus, despite a lapse of more than three years (from March 2013) no significant improvement in the availability of WWR ammunition was noticed in audit.” On the efforts to procure ammunition, the CAG noted that there continued to be a critical deficiency in the availability and quality of ammunition supplied by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) since March 2013.
“Shortfall in meeting the production target by OFB continued. Further, majority of the procurement cases from other than OFB, which were initiated by Army HQ during 2009-13, were pending as of January 2017,” the report observed.
WWR is the reserve quantity of ammunition needed to meet the requirements for the expected duration of operations.