Photo for representation only.

Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 12

Almost three years after 19 people lost their lives in a massive fire that had broken out at the Central Ammunition Depot (CAD), Pulgaon, it has now emerged that the Army had made multiple requests to the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) for removing defective anti-tank mines from the depot but no action was taken.

A petition filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court by the widow of Lt Col RS Pawar, herself an Army officer hailing from Rohtak, has averred that the Army had in strong terms put on record that the matter was being “delayed deliberately” and “dragged unendingly”, thereby posing a serious threat to safety and security of personnel and endangering the establishment.

No effective action whatsoever was taken by the OFB, ultimately leading to the tragic blast in depot, one of the largest in Asia, on May 31, 2016, because of defective mines.

Two officers, including Lt Col Pawar, who was posthumously decorated for gallantry, and 17 others were killed and a huge stockpile of ammunition was destroyed.

Taking cognisance of the petition filed by Maj Reenu Ohlan, the high court has issued notices to the Department of Defence Production (DDP) and the OFB.

Besides seeking compensation “as the court may deem fit” from these two establishments, she has also sought action on the directions passed by the defence minister for fixing accountability and culpability in the incident and also for ensuring time-bound removal of all defective ammunition to prevent any such catastrophe in the future.

It was the mandate of technical experts from the OFB and the Quality Assurance Directorate to remove the mines categorised as defective.

The Army, which controls the CAD, is not authorised to handle such ammunition. In fact, there was another blast at CAD, Pulgaon in 2018, in which six persons were killed.

The petition states that thereafter the statutory Court of Inquiry established the lapses at various stages at the end of the OFB and directions were issued by the then defence minister in July 2016 to fix responsibility and criminal culpability and also to replace and dispose all defective ammunition.

Despite orders from the highest political executive, that the aforesaid action be taken within one month, no effective steps have been taken till date, the petition claims.

Pointing out that though the Army and the Department of Defence (DoD) in the MoD are supporting her, she has averred that there has been total apathy, negligence and indifference on part of the DDP and OFB.