Army received banned anti-aircraft ammunition worth Rs 39 cr from OFB in August 2015
New Delhi: Indian Army "received" banned anti-aircraft ammunition worth around Rs 39 crore from the Ordinance Factory Board (OFB) in August 2015, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) said in its latest report that was tabled in Lok Sabha.
As an accident had taken place with this ammunition "K" at Gopalpur firing range in November 2014, the Army Headquarters (AHQ) had asked the OFB to stop its production from December 2014 onward, the report noted.
This ban was lifted in September 2015 when a recommendation by a board of officers regarding improvements in the ammunition "K" were accepted by the AHQ, the CAG noted.
The AHQ, however, had "intimated" the OFB that the ammunition "K" produced between December 2014 to September 2015 will not be accepted.
According to the CAG report, which was tabled in the lower house recently, the OFB had supplied 52,369 numbers of the ammunition "K" worth around Rs 39 crore to Army's Central Ammunition Depot (CAD) in Pulgaon in August 2015, "when the ban had still not been revoked".
"The OFB justified continuation of production even after December 2014 on the ground that ammunition were under various states of assembly or finishing i.e. work in progress (WIP) stage as on date of receipt of AHQ's directions," the CAG report stated.
