to the editor

Dear Editor,


1. This in reference to the article carried in your newspaper, New Delhi
Edition, 30 Mar 2008 : Cost to Govt 4 Times the salary on paper. (Article
attached).


2. I think the article is totally misleading and will spread
misinformation amongst the masses! How has Ashish Sinha and XLRI Jamshedpur
arrived at the conclusion that Cost to Government (CTG) of Armed Forces
officers is 4.5 times of the salary is baffling. The conclusion is
scandalous, blasphemous and in poor taste! Ironically, these are the same
arguments which have been presented in the VI Pay Commission report while
fixing the salaries of defence Forces officers. Let me decimate these so
called 'intangibles' given by Ashish Sinha and possibly XLRI Jamshedpur in
support of this conclusion one by one.


3. Housing : Where are these 'sprawling bungalows' in which the defence
officers are supposedly living. Being an Army Wife of an officer who has
had an unblemished 31 years career in the Army so far and who has not done
so badly, I have never ever lived in any of these sprawling bungalows. We
have been always been allotted dilapidated flats, crumbling at the seams
and the houses and the colonies represent Bombay Chawls. Mostly even this
sub standard accommodation is not available and one has to make do with
temporary arrangements ranging from a single room in a crumbling British
era building, to a lower class of accommodation till one finally gets the
authorised accommodation (Mind you it is 1500 square feet and not 3500
square feet as stated by the VI pay commission in its report). If one gets
authorised scale of accommodation at all before one gets posted out. All
this in the same station involving two to three shiftings in a two years
tenure. The houses are poorly constructed to begin with and are maintained
by an organisation called MES (Has XLRI interacted with MES??). The icing
on the cake is provided by MES by simultaneously charging rent for all the
accommodations (once occupied by you in this shifting process). It is often
very late that one realises that one is supposedly occupying so many
accommodations simultaneously on paper and being charged for them!!! The
sorting out process which involves another such organisation as the MES,
gives one a real taste of the bureaucratic process!!! So much for the
sprawling bungalows!!!!


4. CSD : What is available in the CSD and how much of these items does
one buy monthly? The total items purchased per month do not cost more than
Rs 600/- to 700/- and the saving accrued is not more than Rs 200/- per
month i.e. if one discounts the effort involved to get to the CSD (i.e.
when it is open) provided the required item is available and finally the
quality is good and competitive brands and contemporary brands are
available. With the retail revolution now taking place in the country, most
of the times better stuff is available in the market at lesser or same
rates and then these can be bought at 11.00 p.m at night!! In my entire
life as an army wife (25 years), I do not think we have saved more than Rs
70,000/- by buying things from CSD. This includes purchase of a car!!! So
much for CSD contributing to 4.5 times CTG!!!


5. House Building Advance : Please tell XLRI Jamshedpur and Ashish Sinha
to publish factual details of total housing loans taken by Army Officers
from private banks (HDFC, ICICI) vis-à-vis the government loan. The
details will be eye opening!! Haat kangan ko arsi kya, parhe likhe ko
pharsi kya!!! Had these Govt loans been so easily available and so
lucrative, 90% loans would not be taken by officers from private banks!!!


6. 90 Days Leave : You need leave when you serve away from families. Let
Ashish Sinha do a stint in a field area and probably then he'll start
campaigning for even more leave for soldiers. Secondly, which soldier gets
full quota of leave? Lastly, do not private companies give all expenses
paid holidays to their employees? Any such parallel in a govt job?


7. Travel Passes : Need for travel arises only because one serves away
from home. Even then, the annual saving on account of subsidised travel by
any average army family (including travel not necessitated by service
conditions and for personal purposes alone) cannot exceed Rs 4-5 K
annually. Mind you, this figure too is on the higher side!!


8. I guess it has become rather fashionable to talk about the abnormal
privileges being enjoyed by defence services. Some other so called perks
have not been touched upon in your article hence I need not elaborate on
those and make efforts to decimate them too. But I assure you that they too
are all a fallacy and are easily torn to shreds.


9. Finally, I have one suggestion to make to the powers that be and to
those who are responsible for perpetrating this fallacy that an army
officer's CTG is 4.5 times his salary – please withdraw all such
intangibles {CSD, govt houses (ramshackles), free rations, form D and
warrants, 50% air travel concession (who travels and when??) orderlies etc
etc!!} and pay us 4.5 times of what has been proposed by the VI pay
commission!!! Acceptable? I am sure I am voicing the opinion of bulk of the
middle rung officers of the Army!


10. Please do publish our sheer disappointment with your esteemed
newspaper for carrying such blasphemous articles!!


11. JAI HIND!!