New Delhi:
The three service chiefs will meet a cross-section of MPs on April 20 to explain their troops' preparedness. Their appointment with the standing committee on Defence comes weeks after a letter from the Army Chief to the Prime Minister was leaked. The note detailed the obsolete equipment that General VK Singh said the army is saddled with. He warned in his letter dated March 12 that the country's security is at risk.
Yesterday, the vice chief of staff Lt General SK Singh told the same committee that in the event of a war, ammunition to take on enemy tanks, which is meant to last 40 days, would be exhausted in less than 20 days because of poor reserves. Combined with the Army Chief's letter, this highlights the urgent need to speed up the procurement process for arms and ammunition. General Singh had written in confidence to the PM to say that air defence was "97% obsolete" and the Army's tanks are "devoid of critical ammunition to defeat enemy tanks." However, Defence Minister A K Antony has said that reports of the Army being short of tank ammunition are just "rumours."
The Opposition agreed that the leak of the Army Chief's letter was as worrying as its contents. The Intelligence Bureau has been assigned to identify the mole while the government has promised to explain what is being done to procure the equipment and ammunition needed for the defence forces. As a starting point, Defence Minister AK Antony has said more financial powers will be transferred to the Army.
The standing committee on defence, which is headed by Congress MP Satpal Maharaj, will meet the heads of the Army, Navy and Airforce, a day after the combined commanders' conference, where the country's overall defence strategy will be analysed.
The standing committee on defence had last week met with the vice-chief of the Army and other officials. MPs had reportedly asked for clarifications on the Indian Express report which said that in January, the Army moved tow units towards Delhi without informing the government. The newspaper claimed that movement had "spooked" the government. The Prime Minister has described the report as "alarmist" while General Singh has dismissed it as "absolutely "stupid."
Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma told the committee today that the movement of the troops was standard operating procedure; the MPs decided to close the matter.