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Army signs contract for 1.7 million medals
New Delhi Soldiers will no longer have to buy replicas of medals from the market, with the Indian Army on Tuesday announcing that it has concluded a contract for procuring 1
New Delhi
Soldiers will no longer have to buy replicas of medals from the market, with the Indian Army on Tuesday announcing that it has concluded a contract for procuring 1.7 million medals.
Soldiers are awarded medals for gallantry and distinguished service among other key landmarks in their military careers.
Resolving a decade-old problem, the army said it has signed a contract for 17 different types of medals. “Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence (Army) has concluded a contract for procurement of a total of 17.27 lakh service medals of 17 different types,” it said on Twitter.
“The procurement has enabled Indian Army to meet all outstanding demands of service medals in respect of soldiers who have served and are serving in the Indian Army,” the army added.
In contrast to original medals, the replica medals do not have the names of the soldiers and their service numbers engraved on them. For almost 10 years, soldiers have been purchasing medals from the market as the army grappled with the shortage.
Soldiers could just approach shops selling service medals and buy them as per their requirement, an official familiar with the matter said. There was no need to produce any certificate to make the purchase.
Gopinath Bazar in Delhi Cantt is a popular place for soldiers to buy replica medals. Other cantonments in the country also have shops that sell medals and other military items such as uniforms and boots. Soldiers and veterans wear these medals only during ceremonial functions.
While there was no shortage of medals awarded to soldiers for gallantry, the defence ministry’s department of medals had failed to issue other varieties of medals, another official said on condition of anonymity.
In 2016-17, the medals department was saddled with more than 1.4 million medals of various types.
The soldiers, by default, are entitled to a variety of medals after completing a certain number of years in service, serving in difficult areas or taking part in various operations.
