‘Misuse of resources is rampant’
Army choppers are mostly used to visit hill stations and holiday
destinations
Josy Joseph.New Delhi
Air Marshal JS Apte, who landed himself in a soup after taking a private
trip to Shirdi in an Indian Air Force helicopter, was plain unlucky to be
caught, admit officers across the three services. With the top brass of
military maintaining a studied silence, ‘Military Tourism’ is flourishing
across India, as several senior officers misuse military infrastructure,
planes and helicopters for purely personal pleasure seeking trips.
The Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of IAF Maintenance Command, Air Marshal
Apte, has now been summoned to Delhi and is set to face punishment for
flying off to Shirdi in an official helicopter.
However, DNA inquiries reveal that several dozen senior military officers
have been misusing the facilities such as aircraft and choppers for what
many dub as ‘military tourism’. The destinations that are now seemingly
topping the chart are Kerala and Lakshwadeep, besides the hill stations. “On
paper, aircraft and choppers are allotted strictly according to laid down
rules. But if there is misuse it is manipulation of records,” said a retired
officer.
Sources told DNA that almost two dozen senior military officers, above the
rank of Major General and equivalent, take helicopters down to Badrinath and
Joshimat annually. Their destination: the holy temple at Badrinath, or the
Sikh pilgrim center of Hemkunt Sahib, or the Valley of Flowers when it is in
full bloom. The military tourism is such a regular practice in that part of
the country close to China border that the military maintains over 30 VVIP
rooms.
The latest craze among the officers is to visit Kerala or the Lakshwadeep
islands. Sources in Southern Air Command say they “regularly fly sorties”
between the command headquarters and Kochi to transport senior visiting
officers.
The local Army Brigade in Thiruvananthapuram has put in “several requests in
the recent times” seeking “state guest” status for many senior military
officers, say state government sources. Most of these officers were on
purely personal trips. In fact, the chief of one of the services took a
plane down to Kochi last year, and from there a helicopter to Alapuzha and
had a private holiday with his family.
But sources said technically the chiefs are authorised use of helicopters
and planes anywhere in India because it all falls under their ‘operational
area’, and an old order from Indira Gandhi’s days permit them the freedom