A screenshot of the Tweet
General Rawat’s comments were critical of OFB’s products and were made with reference to a recent controversy over changes in rules for the supply of uniforms to troops.
The Economic Times quoted him as saying, “It’s actually better that soldiers buy uniforms on their own rather than from the ordnance factories. The ordnance factory vests are so thick that no one can wear them.” Rawat was further quoted as saying, “It is better this way rather than giving let’s say Rs 950 to the ordnance factories for stitching my uniform. In the market, however, I will only have to pay let’s say about Rs 400 to stitch a uniform, so why should I get it made from the ordnance factories when I can get it made from outside.”
It was presumable with reference to this comment that the account of the PRO, Ordnance Factory Board tagged the Indian Army’s Twitter account @adgpi and asked, “In this article, Gen Bipin Rawat has been quoted by ET on Ordnance Factories. OFB wanted to know the veracity of the statements kindly elucidate (sic).”
The tweet has since been deleted.
In related news, union member workers at OFB, Dum Dum have decided to protest ‘the government decision of outsourcing and privatizing various items of defence production’ on Thursday.
