Armed Forces get emergency financial powers to fight COVID-19 crisis

Amidst mayhem in the country, the armed forces were on Friday granted emergency financial powers to fight the COVID-19 surge. The emergency financial powers were given to top officers of all three armed forces.

These are in addition to the emergency powers delegated to the medical officers of the armed forces last week, a Defence Ministry statement said.  These new powers will help them operate facilities, procure equipment and resources, and perform any required urgent tasks.

They will establish and operate hospitals, quarantine facilities, and to undertake procurement of COVID-specific equipment without the usual clearances.

RMO India tweeted, "To empower the Armed Forces and speed up their efforts in the nationwide fight against COVID-19 situation, Raksha Mantri Shri @rajnathsingh invoked special provisions and granted Emergency Financial Powers to the Armed Forces today."

"These powers will help Formation Commanders to establish and operate quarantine facilities/ hospitals and to undertake procurement/ repair of eqpt/ items/ material/ stores, besides provisioning of various services and works required to support the ongoing effort against COVID," it added.

Such powers were sanctioned last year, too, and helped the Armed Forces tackle the first wave effectively.

The latest move comes days after Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that all medical personnel who retired from the armed forces in the past two years will be recalled and deployed at COVID-19 facilities near their homes.