Source: Times of India
The legacy of graft left behind by Sudipta Ghosh — the tainted Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) chief arrested last year by CBI — continues to put the lives of thousands of soldiers using ammunition manufactured by ordnance factories across India at risk.
An internal report has revealed the OFB headquarters in the city has paid no heed to several reports submitted by officials of the ordnance factory at Badmal in Orissa's Bolangir district about inferior quality ammunition containers finding their way in. The OFB has also not acted against cartels supplying poor material that may have resulted in the death of soldiers during field trials of ammunition.
Officials said the containers, in which ammunition is packed before being sent for 'proofing' or field tests, were so poor in quality that the shells they contained often got spoilt before reaching the field units. There have been instances of soldiers dying due to barrel bursts during field tests. The cartels operate at Bolangir and the factory at Chanda in Maharashtra, officials said.
"These firms are not into the manufacturing business at all and are simply traders or 'letterhead firms' who managed to get registered through submission of false or forged documents or other illegal means. The firms do not possess the requisite plant and machinery and some have been created solely to dupe the ordnance factories by creating a facade of competition," the office of the controller, finance and accounts, Ordnance Factory, Badmal, wrote to the member finance at the OFB headquarters. A copy of this letter and supporting documents are with TOI.
The cartel-owners are from Vishakapatnam, Nagpur and Delhi. The Central Excise department has already proceeded against those in Vishakapatnam and Nagpur. Reports submitted by the Central Excise reveal that the owners of the firms are traders and not manufacturers and supply material to ordnance factories at a much higher rate than their procurement price in the market.
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