My view on ammo crunch was ignored: Gen VK Singh

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jind, May 10

Reacting to a CAG report on critical shortfall of ammunition reserves in India, Union Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation General VK Singh (retd) today said he had revealed the same fact during his tenure as the Army Chief.

“I had said the same thing during my tenure as the Army Chief but I do not know why I was not taken seriously at that time. Now the CAG has confirmed it,” said General VK Singh while interacting with The Tribune at Rajiv Gandhi College in Uchana, which is owned by the family of Union Minister for Rural Development Chaudhary Birender Singh.

The former Army Chief, who was in the college along with Birender to attend its annual convocation, said the Defence Ministry had a strong system to deal with such situations and he was hopeful that the officers concerned would handle it in the best possible way. “I am open to giving suggestions if anyone needs my help,” General VK Singh said.

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Maoists to embrace humanity, General VK Singh reiterated his stand against deployment of the Army in Maoist-affected areas.

“In Maoist-hit areas, we are not facing threat from any outside forces but our own men have strayed away. Deployment of the Army against our own men would send a wrong signal. Our local police forces are capable of tackling such challenges,” he said.

Birender said former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda did not have the right to start his Jan Sampark Abhiyan from Kandela (Jind) on May 31. “He deliberately ignored Jind district for 10 years when he was the CM and shifted all development to Rohtak and other districts of the state. Hooda should start his abhiyan from Rohtak or other districts,” he said.

“All things will be clear in Parliament about the Land Acquisition Bill tomorrow,” Birender said when asked about opposition to the Bill.