Fund crunch in Army, no TA/DA for officers

New Delhi, February 4

The Ministry of Defence has no money to pay for the transportation of armed forces officers who have been transferred to various places of postings and also to those being attached on temporary duty for field exercises or for attending courses.

The Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) has said on its website that due to insufficient funds available under temporary duty and permanent duty, no advances and claims can be processed till further receipt of funds.

A defence official late on Monday evening said shortfalls were temporary and resolved routinely through re-appropriations (from existing budget allocations).

It costs around Rs 4,000 crore per annum to pay for transportation and allowances for officers who are transferred from one station to another and also those going to attend courses or to take part in exercises. Sources said an additional sum of Rs 800 crore has been sanctioned, which may help tide over some of this difficulty for now. There are nearly 40,000 Army officers. With tenures being just two-three years at one station, postings are a frequent reality. Also, during military exercises — conducted every year — a huge body of troops moves. 

Then another element is the courses conducted to keep the officers updated on military issues. In October last year, several infrastructure projects of the armed forces had been stalled or are moving at a slow pace due to “fund crunch”. The then Engineer-in-Chief branch in the Military Engineering Services (MES) accepted “fund crunch” and issued instructions that at all ongoing works where payments were held up due to “fund crunch”, the work shall be put under “suspension”. The budget for infrastructure works this year is Rs 2,300 crore, of which Rs 1,850 crore had been spent by October. Some of the outstanding payment due for projects has rolled over from the previous year that ended on March 31. The work on perimeter walls around military stations in northern India (for security to prevent terror attacks) has been stopped, while making additional ammunition storage dumps or IAF works like hangars and runways have been held up or are moving slowly for want of funds. — TNS