Hic, hic, hurray to Indian Army

The Indian Army loves its peg. But this makes a huge dent in the government exchequer.The Indian Army has drawn excess liquor in Delhi to the tune of Rs 27 crore, causing the government a loss of over Rs 10 crore in taxes. The Canteen Stores Department (CSD) depot and the Delhi Area failed to exercise built-in checks and withdrew excess liquor, mostly rum, to the tune of Rs 27 crore in the last one-and-a-half year. This resulted in the loss of over Rs 10 crore in taxes due to the price difference between the Army's subsidised booze and market rates. "Had the Army not overdrawn and sold liquor, most of which is smuggled out in the civil market, the government could have got Rs 10 crore as taxes. Everyone is looting the system," said a senior Army official. Around 43 Army units overdrew about 1.12 lakh cases of liquor, according to top sources in the Army. Sources said that the CSD depot and the Headquarters (HQ) Delhi Area kept issuing liquor to the units without verifying if it was within permissible limits.However, the GOC of the Delhi Area, Maj Gen K J S Oberoi, said, "This is not correct. We haven't overdrawn liquor. There is an official report on this. In fact, we have been drawing below our prescribed quota. I have streamlined the canteen's functioning."But on record, while the HQ Delhi Area admits that excess withdrawal had taken place in certain months, it blames only a couple of units for the slip-up. The Army conveniently passed the blame on to Smart Cards that are now being used by defence personnel to buy liquor from any part of the country. The Army says that officers proceeding on leave don't procure liquor from their parent units or from where they are posted but have been withdrawing their monthly doze from Delhi, since it is a large station.But ex-serviceman K Singh denies an unprecedented surge in liquor sale after the induction of Smart Cards. "Even before the Smart Cards were introduced, officers used to buy liquor from their holiday stations by taking certificates from their serving stations. This is nothing new," says Singh.Incidentally, the Delhi Area says that the Army Battle Honours Mess has underdrawn liquor to the tune of 686 cases and puts the blame of extra withdrawal to the large number of officers who regularly travel to Delhi. However, units like the Research and Analysis Wing's Aviation Research Centre, the National Defence College and the National Security Guard's 52nd battalion and others are not under the Delhi Area's control.