Indian Army suffering from acute shortage of clothing, equipment: report

Indian soldiers go without adequate ration and proper high-altitude clothing said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, ARY News reported

The report admonishes the Indian Army for deficiencies in the provision of special clothing, rations and housing for troops in high-altitude areas, including Siachen.

“There were delays of up to four years in the procurement of high-altitude clothing and equipment, leading to an acute shortage of essential clothing and equipment. There was a critical shortage of snow goggles, ranging from 62% to 98%. The troops had not been issued ‘multi-purpose boots’ from November 2015 to September 2016, and had to resort to the recycling of available boots,” the CAG said in the report on the performance audit of provisioning and procurement during the period from 2015-16 to 2017-18.

Indian Army Chief General MM Naravane on Tuesday said the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) report, citing an acute shortage of high-altitude clothing and inadequate ration for troops deployed in Siachen and Ladakh was ‘outdated.’

Earlier on April 30, 2019, pictures of “Yeti footprints” shared by the Indian Army on social media triggered a barrage of jokes.

“For the first time, an #IndianArmy Mountaineering Expedition Team has sited Mysterious Footprints of the mythical beast ‘Yeti’,” an apparently serious — though misspelt — tweet on the army’s official account said Monday, alongside three images of prints in the snow.

It added the “elusive snowman has only been sighted at Makalu-Barun National Park in the past”, referring to footprints reported by British explorer Eric Shipton in 1951 on the west side of Mount Everest.

According to folklore, the abominable snowman lives in the Himalayas but no proof of the enormous creature has ever been produced.