#dnaEdit: Ammo unsafe

The nation’s immense pride for the armed forces notwithstanding, our vital defence installations continue to remain dangerously vulnerable to terrorist attacks and mishaps. The explosions followed by a massive fire at the biggest central ammunition depot in the country in the wee hours of Tuesday expose the gaps in the supposedly rigorous standards of safety and security. The loss of lives and destruction of stockpile at Pulgaon in Maharashtra should serve as a trigger for the defence ministry and the Army to critically view its efforts at maintaining its assets. 

It’s probably too early to ascertain the causes of the fire. All efforts at the initial phase were concentrated on dousing the flames and minimising the damage. The number of casualties gives ample indication how grave the situation has been. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar was wise to rush to the spot, which had also been visited by the Army chief General Dalbir Singh. The way the Army has handled the situation deserves glowing praise.

A much bigger catastrophe was averted, thanks to some quick thinking and action. The villagers residing around the depot had been evacuated promptly while some army personnel laid down their lives fighting the blaze.

Though much of the fire has been put out, the threat of secondary explosions remains. With Pulgaon lacking proper medical facilities, the injured had to be ferried to the nearest hospitals in Wardha, a good 33 kms away. 

The Pulgaon depot encompasses a huge area with several railway lines serving it. Its massive stocks include all sorts of ammunition ranging from bombs and grenades to rifles. It is said that stocks from various ordnance factories come there first and then transported to the different corners of the country. The depot is also tasked with the critical responsibility of getting rid of ammunition that’s past the expiry date — a job that has even won it an award for using solar energy. 

In the aftermath of the fire, an allegation that has surfaced and carries considerable merit is the Army’s apparent refusal to modernise this depot, which was set up by the British during World War II. The other important aspect to be explored is why despite repeated accidents, our armed forces haven’t raised the bar in safety management. Consider the following incidents, not far apart from each other on the timeline: In 2014, off the Mumbai coast, a fire aboard a nuclear submarine claimed the lives of two officers. In 2010, Kolkata was witness to a ravaging fire at an arms depot that destroyed 150 tonnes of explosives. In 2007, Kashmir had to grapple with fires and explosion that tore through an ammo depot. In 2001, 427 tonnes of shells worth Rs20 crore were consumed in a similar fire. A year prior to that, it was the turn of the Bharatpur ordnance depot in Rajasthan to burn — the damage back then was pegged at Rs376 crore. 

Back in 2001, a Comptroller and Auditor-General report was scathing in its observation on how archaic the Ordnance services’ inventory management had been. The report found that “almost the entire material inventory is procured, stored and distributed through a multi-echelon supply chain which is of World War II design”.  It’s time to move beyond the customary court of inquiry and build a foolproof system in tune with the needs of the time.

The writing is on the wall: India is one of the biggest arms buyers in the world but it cannot manage its inventories.