Pulgaon CAD calls for immediate action
The massive fire that broke out at the nation’s largest arms depot, the Central Ammunition Depot in Pulgaon, Maharashtra, in the wee hours of Tuesday, is shocking. Spread across 7,000 acres of land, the CAD is aptly described as the ‘mother depot' that houses the biggest stockpile of weapons. It is also the second largest ammunition centre in Asia and is ostensible well-secured. Stocks of all kinds of ammunition, including bullets, shells, anti-tank mines, missiles, rockets and mortars, from various ordnance factories come here first; and then they are all supplied to 11 Forward Ammunition Depots across the country.
Besides storing different types of ammunitions, the CAD is also involved in disposing or demilitarising expired ammunitions. A special report published by the Comptroller and Auditor General in March 2013 on Ammunition Management in Army brings home the fact the Director General Ordnance Services (DGOS) at the Army headquarters is responsible for the overall management of ammunition in the Army, which carries out the annual provisioning and procurement.
Thus, the depot occupies a very critical place in the country’s national security scheme, and a proper enquiry is a must to bring the facts to the forefront. Special teams of the Army will review the extent of the damage caused by the devastating fire and resultant explosions. At the moment, the stock taking will enable the Army to assess if urgent ammunition requirements are hit, and the time that will be taken to overcome such shortfall, if any in the coming days. The depot maintains the inventory as per the operational requirements of various FADs. A damage assessment will enable the Army to re-work its logistical chain time-frame in case of major damage resulting in shortage of ammunitions.
It is sad that the incident has claimed the life of 16 people including two Army officers who successfully doused the fire within an area of 100 metres only. Given the fact that the depot is located on 7,000 acres of land, the affected area is negligible, leaving apart the loss of man and material. Fire fighting and actions taken by the jawans, the officers and the Quick Reaction Teams are praiseworthy.
As this is the third such incident that took place in an ammunition depot, the other two being — one near Bharatpur, Rajasthan in 2000 and the second, near Srinagar in 2007, the Government, particularly DGOS officials should have taken full-fledged care in regard to safety and security measures recommended in the Audit Report prepared by the Army and other agencies for such vital establishments in the past.
This could have averted the loss of life and the damage of ammunitions. It remains a mystery as to why defence installations of such high importance, which is the storehouse of arms for the entire nation, had to witness a fateful day such as this. However, a detailed enquiry into this incident will reveal the shortcomings of the safety measures at CAD and the status of actual implementation of the Audit Report. Also, the immediate response from Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag will help with stock-taking and furthering the enquiry process. Thankfully, Parrikar has almost ruled out the chances of sabotage.