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NEW DELHI: Slamming the “non-performance” of the predominantly-civilian military engineer services (MES), a top Army commander has called for the organisation’s ‘corporatisation’ or drastic overhaul to make it functionally more efficient, productive and cost-effective.
The procedures followed by MES are “archaic, restrictive, time-consuming and not in conformity with modern construction techniques”, which also lead to huge time and cost overruns, said the general officer commanding-in-chief (GOC-in-C) of one of the seven commands of the 12-lakh strong Army.
“This has manifested in increased bottlenecks, prolonged delays in execution and work quality far from expectation. In the final analysis, user satisfaction (primarily Army, Navy and IAF) remains poor and we do not get the bang for the buck,” said the senior Lt-General, in a letter to the Army HQ here.
The missive on the ‘Need for MES Reforms’ is addressed to Quarter Master General Lt-Gen Rajinder Dewan, with copies marked to vice-chief Lt-Gen BS Raju and other top officers like the Engineer-in-Chief who oversees the MES.
The MES provides “rear line” engineering support to the armed forces and other organisations under the defence ministry, carrying out multifarious construction activities such as residential and office buildings, labs and hospitals, roads and runways, and dockyards across India.
Quoting data, the GOC-in-C’s letter said there are huge delays in processing of documents and conclusion of tenders. Turning to “poor” contract management, it said 41% of projects are delayed leading to “repeated extensions” of the completion dates.
The procedures followed by MES are “archaic, restrictive, time-consuming and not in conformity with modern construction techniques”, which also lead to huge time and cost overruns, said the general officer commanding-in-chief (GOC-in-C) of one of the seven commands of the 12-lakh strong Army.
“This has manifested in increased bottlenecks, prolonged delays in execution and work quality far from expectation. In the final analysis, user satisfaction (primarily Army, Navy and IAF) remains poor and we do not get the bang for the buck,” said the senior Lt-General, in a letter to the Army HQ here.
The missive on the ‘Need for MES Reforms’ is addressed to Quarter Master General Lt-Gen Rajinder Dewan, with copies marked to vice-chief Lt-Gen BS Raju and other top officers like the Engineer-in-Chief who oversees the MES.
The MES provides “rear line” engineering support to the armed forces and other organisations under the defence ministry, carrying out multifarious construction activities such as residential and office buildings, labs and hospitals, roads and runways, and dockyards across India.
Quoting data, the GOC-in-C’s letter said there are huge delays in processing of documents and conclusion of tenders. Turning to “poor” contract management, it said 41% of projects are delayed leading to “repeated extensions” of the completion dates.
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