Summary:
New Delhi: The Defence Ministry has objected to a visit by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to Leh next month to study the working conditions of soldiers deployed in forward locations in the high altitude areas.
In a letter sent on Wednesday, the Ministry said “it may not be advisable” for the MPs to visit, given the standoff with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
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New Delhi: The Defence Ministry has objected to a visit by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to Leh next month to study the working conditions of soldiers deployed in forward locations in the high altitude areas.
In a letter sent on Wednesday, the Ministry said “it may not be advisable” for the MPs to visit, given the standoff with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
In another letter sent only a day earlier, however, the Ministry had made no mention of such concerns.
The PAC, headed by the Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, had last month got clearance from Speaker Om Birla to visit Ladakh to meet the soldiers.
The PAC wanted to visit Leh since it is examining a CAG report which had earlier this year said that the troops stationed in areas like Siachen and Ladakh faced an acute shortage of high-altitude clothing and equipment, including snow goggles, because of delays in procurement.
The PAC had initially decided to visit Ladakh on October 28 and 29.
But some MPs on the panel sought a change in dates, citing the Assembly elections in Bihar, by-elections in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, and the prevailing Covid-19 situation.
The PAC then revised its plan, and decided to visit Leh from November 8 to 10, instead.