Sir,
Kindly refer to editorial under heading “Chopper service” Sept 25th.It is a fact that being a hilly State we hear frequently about tragic road accidents/ landslides resulting in loss of precious human lives. It is very difficult to evacuate the injured persons in a shortest possible time to the nearest hospital to save their lives and due to loss of blood and fatal injuries most of the injured are reported as brought dead in the hospitals.
It is learnt that the State Govt has acquired its own choppers and the same can be used for airlifting of critically injured persons but the state choppers are rarely used in such a situation. In fact the politicians in power in the state are more interested in making use of these choppers for their own mobility to different parts of the state. It appears that they do not face any problem in this regard so they have never bothered to ensure that a proper mechanism is in place with the IAF so that injured are timely evacuated and liabilities on this account are cleared within a reasonable time.
It is pertinent to mention here that all the ministries of the Govt of India in general and Ministry of Defence in particular strictly follow the Financial Regulations and these are applied both in letter and spirit by the competent financial authorities and wherever financial irregularities are pointed out in internal audit or by the statutory audit the delinquent officers are held responsible for the lapse and suitable action as required under the Rules is initiated. Since huge amount running in several crores in aid of civil power is outstanding against the state government and so despite repeated reminders of IAF the State Government has not cleared the liability. In such circumstances no financial authority is allowed to incur more expenditure without the approval of the competent financial authority.
Since there would be requirement of choppers in future also to save the precious lives and IAF presses its choppers into services for emergency evacuation on payment basis so it is enjoined upon the concerned authorities that a permanent arrangement with the IAF may be made for this purpose. It may be ensured that sufficient funds are allocated for this purpose including clearance of old liabilities so that as and when help of IAF is sought reimbursement of the expenditure for the purpose is made immediately.
Yours etc….
S.S.Jamwal, New Plots.
Jammu
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