Army cites price difference, moves pvt vendors for uniforms

CHANDIGARH: The Army Headquarters’ move to source fabric for its combat uniforms from the private sector, ostensibly due to the huge price differential between the uniforms procured from the state-run Ordnance Factory and those available locally, has Ordnance Factory employees up in arms.

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 19

The Army Headquarters’ move to source fabric for its combat uniforms from the private sector, ostensibly due to the huge price differential between the uniforms procured from the state-run Ordnance Factory and those available locally, has Ordnance Factory employees up in arms.

The employees are claiming that samples of cloth available with private vendors have failed the requisite quality tests.

The Master General of Ordnance (MGO) at the Army Headquarters had written to the Additional Director General, Ordnance Factories Board, earlier this month that the Army would not like to procure combat uniforms from the Ordnance Factory. It instead wants that a no-objection certificate be issued for procuring uniforms from private vendors.

“A set of combat jacket and trousers provisioned through the Ordnance Factory costs Rs 4,150 where as a combat uniform of the same material stitched locally costs Rs 1,800-1,900, including GST.

“If procured in the same volume as is being done from Ordnance Factory, it is likely to cost Rs 1,200-1,300 per set,” the MGO’s letter states.

The Army had switched to a new combat uniform over a decade ago to standardise the camouflage pattern and check misuse and open sale of such cloth in the market.

The four-colour disruptive pattern of the cloth, called Army Logo Cloth, is inter spread with the Army’s crossed swords and Ashoka Lion logo.

The camouflage design and fabric specifications were developed by the Ordnance Factory. Some private mills have been contracted to produce Army Logo Cloth for the Ordnance Factory, which supplies stitched uniform to the Army. Though the sale of this pattern by mills to private vendors is restricted, it is available in the market. Once the cloth is received from the mills, it undergoes 36 tests to ensure quality standards.

In a letter written to Chief of the Army Staff this week, the All-India Defence Employees Federation has said that if the Army starts purchasing cloth directly from private vendors, there is no guarantee that these standards would be met.

The letter states that Ordnance Factory employees purchased several samples of Army Logo Cloth from different shops in Delhi Cantonment and all samples failed chemical as well as physical tests.

The letter adds the Ministry of Defence has assured Ordnance Factory employees that combat uniform would not be declared a “non-core” item and there was no justification for the MGO seeking a no-objection certificate.