‘No shortage of winter clothes for soldiers in high altitudes’

NEW DELHI: The Army has told the parliamentary public accounts committee (PAC) that there are no deficiencies in specialised winter clothing and gear for soldiers actually deployed in high-altitude areas like Siachen, while shortages in reserve stocks held in rear locations are being made up now.
Shortages in the Army headquarters’ reserves do not impact the availability of such clothing and equipment to the troops on the ground, the military brass led by chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat told the PAC on Monday, said sources.
The Army’s assertion comes at a time when it is undertaking massive “advance winter stocking” for rations and other essential supplies for its over 30,000 forward deployed troops in eastern Ladakh in face of the continuing military confrontation with China in the high-altitude region.
The Army is now also constructing insulated habitats to sustain its troops in the region, where the temperatures can dip to even below minus 30 degree celsius in some areas, even as additional supplies of winter clothing and gear have also been ordered from domestic and foreign manufacturers, as was reported by TOI earlier.
The PAC, on its part, is examining the CAG report of last year that flagged grossly inadequate reserves of specialised winter clothing, snow goggles, multi-purpose boots and other equipment for troops during an audit conducted from 2015-16 to 2017-18.
Tabled in Parliament, the CAG report had said there were 24% to 100% deficiencies in the authorised holdings for different items in the Army HQs reserves, which must be always maintained for any exigency.