Army officers posted in peace stations in Counter Insurgency (CI) areas will now get daily rations. The latest order reverses the Seventh Pay Commission (SPC) orders for cash instead of rations for some officers.
“It is clarified that units deployed in Peace (CI) will be treated at par with units deployed in forward areas. Therefore, officers can draw entitled rations as hither-to-fore…” the Quartermaster General’s branch in the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) said in a letter dated January 08, 2018.
This means that officers posted in places like Srinagar will get daily rations as it is a peacetime CI location, one officer explained.
This letter is a clarification to an earlier letter issued on November 29, 2017 which said that “post implementation of SPC report officer’s rations in peace stations in kind has been discontinued.” Instead an allowance per fixed was fixed to paid in the monthly salary.
An exception to continue rations in peace stations was made for officer patients in military hospitals, special rations issued to air crew and personnel performing duties with the Air Force and officer cadets undergoing training at various training academies of the three services. Officer messes were also allowed to draw rations on payment for officers during exercises and training. However, the November 2017 had specifically stated that officers rations “in peace stations in CI and remote areas has been discontinued.”
“However, if required, Command Headquarters are requested to identify such areas and forward a case for change of status of such areas from peace stations to forward with Adjutant General’s (AG) branch,” the letter had stated.
One official said that it was widely felt a blanket exemption was required as there were to many such cases.
