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Army signs contract for 1.7 mn medals, soldiers won’t have to buy duplicate ones
The procurement has enabled the army to meet all outstanding demands of service medals of soldiers who have served and are serving the force, the army said
Soldiers will no longer have to buy duplicate medals from the market, with the Indian Army on Tuesday announcing that it has signed a contract for procuring 1.7 million medals.
Soldiers are awarded medals for gallantry, distinguished service and several key landmarks in their military careers. The army 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,” the army wrote on Twitter. The move has resolved a decade-old problem.
The procurement has enabled the army to meet all outstanding demands of service medals of soldiers who have served and are serving the force, the army said.
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For almost 10 years, soldiers were buying medals from the market as the army was grappling with a short supply.
While there was no shortage of medals awarded to soldiers for gallantry, the defence ministry’s department of medals failed to issue the other variety of medals for almost a decade, officials familiar with the development said.
The difference between original and duplicate medals is that the latter don’t have the names of soldiers and their service number engraved on them. Most soldiers posted in Delhi were sourcing medals from markets in Delhi Cantonment.
In 2016-17, the medals department was saddled with a backlog of more than 1.4 million medals of different types. Soldiers are automatically entitled to a variety of medals after completing a certain number of years in service, serving in difficult areas or taking part in different operations.
