India

NEW DELHI: Slamming the non-performance of the predominantly-civilian Military Engineer Services (MES), a top Army leader has called for the organisations corporatisation or drastic overhaul to make it functionally more efficient, efficient and affordable.

The procedures followed by the MES are archaic, restrictive, time-consuming and not in conformity with modern-day building and construction strategies , which also result in substantial time and cost overruns, stated the general officer commanding-in-chief (GOC-in-C) of one of the seven commands of the 12-lakh strong Army.

This has actually manifested in increased bottle-necks, prolonged hold-ups in execution and work quality far from expectation.

In the final analysis, user fulfillment (mainly Army, Navy and IAF) remains poor and we do not get the bang for the buck, included the senior Lt-General, in a letter to the Army HQ in New Delhi.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 B S Raju and other top officers like the Engineer-in-Chief who manages the MES.The MES offers rear line engineering support to the armed forces and other organisations under the defence ministry, performing many construction activities such as property and office buildings, laboratories and health centers, roads and runways, dockyards and jetties throughout the country.One of the biggest building and upkeep agencies in the country, MES has an overall yearly workload of around Rs 30,000 crore.

Around 84% of the MES officers and other workers are civilians, while the rest are from the Armys Corps of Engineers.The Army, on being contacted by TOI, refused to comment.

Sources, however, said: Feedback on services of the MES is gotten at the Army HQ frequently.

All positive tips are analysed-- including some discussed in the letter-- and implemented or are under-implementation.

But plainly much more is required.

Quoting various studies and performance data, the GOC-in-Cs letter said there are substantial hold-ups in processing of documents and conclusion of tenders.

Relying on badagreement management, it stated 41% of jobs are postponed resulting in repeated extensions of the completion dates.

Our experience is that seldom any project gets finished within the offered PDC, it added.The letter even requires a pilot task on outsourcing of upkeep services, especially in city cities, to reputed civilian business.

This comes in the background of widespread problems by officers and soldiers over substandard construction and poor maintenance of their lodging throughout the country.

Its unpleasant staying in official quarters.

The civilian MES cadre urgently requires to be made more responsible, a Colonel said.Outlining the broad shapes of an alternative system , the letter stated the designs adopted for the overhaul of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and Air India need to be evaluated for the changes to be brought into the MES.As part of the corporatisation of the mammoth OFB in 2021, the government had divided its 41 factories, possessions, workers and management into seven brand-new 100% government-owned business to ensure functionally autonomy, more performance and cost-efficiency as the primary providers of arms, ammo and clothing to the 15-lakh strong armed forces.





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