Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 28

Facing flak over officers getting improper Army owned guestrooms in lieu of hotel rooms, the Army Chief’s office has sent out instructions on how guestrooms will be allotted and simplified the procedure for booking.

Six months ago, the Army had asked officers to stay in Army guesthouses instead of hotels. However, complaints have been pouring in against the procedure to book a room in these guesthouses and lack of basic amenities.

Officers also complained against the requirement of procuring a “non-availability certificate” (NAC), indicating that no guestrooms were available. In such cases hotel stay is allowed.

Officers have been posting pictures on social media of the guest rooms that lacked even basic comfortable bedding. There have been several cases where the Defence Accounts rejected claims of officers who, while on temporary attachment, stayed in hotels in absence of guest rooms. The officers claimed to have paid out of their pocket for doing official work.

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat was informed about these rumblings. As per instructions issued on October 23, a ‘NAC’ can now be issued over phone to the officer needing a guestroom for official work.

Also by December-end, all guestrooms will be registered on the Army local ‘Armaan’ App and rooms will be available for allotment and booking from anywhere in India. Since the number of officers coming to Delhi for temporary duty is high, the Delhi station will collect data of all guestrooms. A system of online generation of NAC is also being worked out.

Also, the Army Chief office has directed that all guestrooms will be brought up to reasonable standards of living equipped with facilities like easy access power points for mobile and laptop charging and basic yet comfortable bedding.

Process simplified for booking

• As per instructions issued on October 23, a ‘non-availability certificate’, indicating that no guestrooms are available and the officer can stay in a hotel, can now be issued over phone
• Also by December-end, all guestrooms will be registered on the Army local ‘Armaan’ App and rooms will be available for allotment and booking from anywhere in India
• All guestrooms will be brought up to reasonable standards of living equipped with facilities like easy access power points for mobile and laptop charging and comfortable bedding