The OFB, which comprises 41 units, provides armaments, ammunition, clothing, bulletproof vehicles and mine-protected vehicles to various forces.
Equipment and explosives worth Rs 4,000 crore, manufactured by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), is dumped in its various units as they do not meet the Indian Army standards, posing serious explosion hazards.
Sources told DNA that the space crunch faced by OFB will further slow down production, thereby affecting the critical requirements of the forces. Among the products that lie wasted include huge amount of ammunition and spares for guns, they added.
The OFB, which comprises 41 units, provides armaments, ammunition, clothing, bulletproof vehicles and mine-protected vehicles to various forces.
SK Chourasia, OFB chairman, informed a parliamentary panel on Defence that out of the Rs 15,000- crore orders given to them at the beginning of this year, orders worth Rs 4,000 crore have been cancelled.
"We have built some explosives and propellants; if we do not use them, then storing them safely will become a problem," he said.
Responding to DNA's query on measures taken to ensure the safety of the products, OFB spokesperson Dr Uddipan Mukherjee in a written reply said, "OFB is re-planning upstream production lines to ensure adherence to the ceiling as per defined explosive limits. Excess explosives may be a hazard. However, OFB regulates production volumes of various factories and plants to maintain safe limits of explosives."
Sources in South Block, from where the Ministry of Defence functions, said there have been continued slippages, the OFB could not match the required standards.
The OFB remains one of the main sources of ammunition for the Army, but there have been regular shortfalls ranging between 64 per cent and 95 per cent since 2013.
Between 2009 and 2014, the Army placed orders worth Rs 25,000 crore for ammunition, but there was a shortfall of Rs 6,000 crore.
In the next phase, between 2014 and 2019, the Army's requirement was nearly double the demand worth Rs 25,000 crore, but it had to be restricted due to the incapacity of the OFB to manufacture such high amount of ammunition, sources said.
Another contentious issue between the Army and the OFB has been the latter's failure to meet the Army's requirement of nearly two lakh assault rifles, which were to be an alternative for the INSAS (Indian Small Arms Systems) rifles inducted in 1988. The Army has stated it does not meet the requirements of the force.
Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra told the parliamentary panel that concerns raised about efficiency and prices are being addressed. "We will make the OFB more competitive; if they produce rifles of international standards, we will surely buy them. The Army has given this dispensation."
Other than ammunition and weapons, the OFB also manufactures 'non-core' items like clothing that don't require military expertise. Last year, the Army decided to procure these items from other indigenous sources. The idea was to ensure that the OFB concentrated on core areas like ammunition, weapons and enhancing military capabilities.
In Ordnance Factory Board units
- Dumped because they do not meet Army’s standards. This also creates storage problem; OFB production to be hit
- Among the products that lie wasted are huge amounts of ammunition and spares for guns, sources said
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