17 June 2016

CAD Pulgaon Blaze, Fire Fighting Brave hearts, Unserviceable Stocks

Jun 15, 2016 

CAD Pulgaon Blaze, Fire Fighting Brave hearts, Unserviceable Stocks

The massive blaze in Central Ammunition Depot, (CAD) Pulgaon in Wardha District in Maharashtra a State in Western India on 31 May this year has once again brought to limelight necessity for accident free management of ammunition in the Indian Armed Forces. Preliminary reports of the CAD Pulgaon blaze reveals, disposal has been the main issue and not flawed storage. Lack of timely instructions for clearance of defective mines in the Depot led to the blaze which killed 16 brave hearts including two senior army officers and several firemen who valiantly fought the fire to prevent spreading to other sheds which had high value serviceable ammunition.

While in terms of precious human lives the losses are irreplaceable, this in turn prevented the loss to serviceable munitions in other sheds. Even though in cases of ammunition accidents the first finger is raised on non observation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), it should be noted that the system of ammunition storing, movement etc in Indian ammunition depots is very evolved over many decades and perfected to the extent feasible, Murphy’s Law notwithstanding.

Non adherence of SOP may occur in smaller depots or munitions dumps. In large depots SOPs are well taped up or the Commandants job is on the block. SOPs could also be violated during transit due to inadequate safety standards in transportation.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Centre for Environment and Explosive Safety (CFEES) is the body which prescribes norms for storage of explosives, based on Storage, Transport and Explosive Committee (STEC) Regulations and UN classification.

Ammunition storage as per this classification is undertaken not only in Ammunition Depots managed by the Director General of Ordnance Services (DGOS) but also units in the Army. Each unit has experienced and qualified Non Commissioned Officers (NCOs) who are under the supervision of commissioned officers for storage and management of ammunitions.

The main problem however comes in terms of storage space. While CFEES rules state that ammunition cannot be stored in temporary accommodation frequently permanent accommodation is deficient thus the CAG Report 2015 has observed that Indian Army was holding 18 per cent ammunition in Temporary Accommodation as of 31 March 2013. In many cases temporary storage is also an outcome of the lack of effective turnover and disposal.

There could also be deficiencies in fire fighting systems, personnel and so on which could impact the readiness levels for management of fire. Comptroller and Auditor General of India Report on Ammunition Management in Army for year ended 2013 No. PA 19 of 2015 (Referred to hereafter as CAG Report 2015) has indicated that depots were functioning with inadequate fire fighting equipment. In the CAD Pulgaon case the brave fire fighting teams show that whatever may have been the deficits, there was a high degree of dedication and motivation to risk lives in conduct of their duty which needs to be highly commended.

Problem of Unserviceable Ammunition and Disposal

The storage at CAD Pulgaon was in permanent shelters; however as it appears lack of disposal of unserviceable ammunition has been a major cause of fire as highlighted by Indian Express report of 04 June which covers details of the incident. 

The Express report states, “On the day of the fire in Pulgaon, the defective ammunition that triggered the blast was earmarked as “segregated” and kept separately in Shed 192 that stored a total of 22,000 ND Mark-1 anti-tank mines weighing 330 metric tonnes (MT)”. The Report further states, ““These ND Mark-1 mines had been reported for TNT ‘exudation’, which means TNT was leaking out from these mines”.

The CAG Report 2015 has observed that 17.5 per cent of total quantity of ammunition held was lying in segregated, repairable and unserviceable condition in March 2013.

The responsibility of the disposal is that of the DGOS and Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) which carries out repairs. There was a need for immediate disposal of the mines which were reported for TNT exudation in CAD Pulgaon making these extremely sensitive to high temperatures. Was there a laxity in disposal and if so who is to be blamed for the same needs investigation? Did the Commandant CAD Pulgaon raise the issue and to what level needs to be determined as responsibility for the same has to be fixed, which may be the logical outcome of the investigations apart from investigating the fire at the spot.

As CADs commanded by very senior Ordnance Corps officers of the rank of Brigadier, these need to be vested with powers to destroy ammunition which is not disposed off up to a certain time if the same is highly sensitive such as with TNT content and is not accepted by the OFB for repairs and destruction. Empowerment of officers at the appropriate level is therefore necessary to ensure that unserviceable and dangerous ammunition is not lying in depots.

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