Dehradun : The Indian Air Force has written a letter to the Uttarakhand government asking it to return its outstanding amount of Rs 213 crore. In this letter sent to the Chief Secretary, details of 91 bills pending since 2000 till now have been given. The state of dues of the state government is such that on the very day of its foundation, the Air Force owed Rs 15 lakh. Till now letters have been sent several times, but no action has been taken. But now the matter has heated up. Let us know the complete details…
In fact, in Uttarakhand, which is sensitive to natural disasters, hardly any year has passed in the last 24 years when the help of Air Force helicopters was not required for relief and rescue operations. You can guess this from the fact that among the bills sent by the Air Force for the outstanding amount, two bills of fifteen lakhs are dated November 9, 2000. That is, on the day the state of Uttarakhand was formed, a loan of Rs. 15 lakhs was made. .
Apart from this, 12 bills worth Rs 52 crore 60 lakh are related to the 2013 disaster. Bills worth Rs 3 crore 20 lakh are from the Forest Department. The Forest Department had taken the help of Air Force helicopters to extinguish forest fires in 2021 and 2024. In the past years, the Air Force kept sending reminders to the state government from time to time, but they were not paid attention to. As a result, Air Force’s borrowing has now reached more than Rs 213 crore.
Secretary (Disaster Management) Vinod Kumar Suman says that all the bills are being verified. In this regard, a meeting of all the departments is also being called soon, so that the accounts of the bills can be cleared. This is also a complicated matter, because the bills are also 24 years old.
However, he says that the Disaster Management Department owed Rs 67 lakh to the Air Force, out of which Rs 24 lakh has been given to the Air Force. The Disaster Management Department will soon give the remaining amount to the Air Force.
Finance Minister Premchand Aggarwal says that this is a huge amount. We are also looking for a way to negotiate with the Center so that this huge liability can be waived off.
It is not that these bills were not sent by the Air Force earlier. This year too, the Air Force Headquarters had sent letters on 27 August, 18 September and 19 September reminding the state government about its liabilities, but it was not paid attention to at the government level. Now on October 22, when the detailed letter was sent by Air Vice Marshal Vikram Guru, Joint Secretary in the Government of India, the machinery came into action.
Tags: Indian air force, Uttarakhand Government, Uttarakhand news
FIRST PUBLISHED : November 18, 2024, 7:31 PM IST
