News

Volume 6 Issue 4 - August 01, 2009

Army chooses golf carts over wheelchairs

D.N.I.S. News Network, India: The Army has splurged more than Rs. 1 crore on golf carts, money that was actually meant to be spent on motorised wheelchairs and military equipment.

This shocking financial scam came to light after the Comptroller and Auditor General (C.A.G.) submitted a report wherein it said that top generals misused their power to buy golf carts in the guise of mechanised wheelchairs for army hospitals and urgently required military equipment.

In May 2006, the Western Command had ordered five multi - utility vehicles for transporting elderly and disabled patients. Lieutenant General Daljeet Singh (retd.), the then Western Army chief, invoked his special financial powers to sanction Rs. 15.60 lakh for the motorised carts.

The Army Research and Referral Hospital dispatched three carts to the Western Command Hospital in Chandimandir and one each to hospitals in Jammu and Amritsar.

The Chandimandir hospital diverted the three motorised carts to the Shivalik Golf Course in September 2006. Two of these later ended up at golf courses in Ambala and Jalandhar.

After enquiry C.A.G. found that these were actually golf carts. The Defence Ministry insisted that the motorised carts were being used in the hospitals but C.A.G. found documentary evidence which showed that they were actually in the golf course.