UN deducts Rs 338 crore from payment to India for 'faulty supplies' to troops

New Delhi: The United Nations has cut an estimated Rs 338 crore from its two-year reimbursements to India, claiming that faulty equipment was supplied by the Indian government to Indian soldiers on peacekeeping missions in Congo and Sudan.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the UN deducted $50.45 million towards equipment meant to be carried but was not held by the units according to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Indian Government.

From March 2014 to April 2016, $35.39 million (Rs 237.1 crore) was deducted for the Congo mission while $15.05 million (Rs 100.8 crore) for the period May 2014 to February 2016 for the South Sudan mission, said the report.

2,300 Indian soldiers are part of the Sudan mission and 3,400 soldiers the Congo mission currently.

In 2013, the UN General Assembly introduced the idea of deduction for “absent or unserviceable” equipment to underline the fact that “troops are not able to fully meet the role for which they are deployed to UN peacekeeping operations,” said the report.

The UN Secretariat allows a leeway of 10 per cent of each type of equipment, but there has been a high incidence of these deductions since they were introduced from late 2013, many concerning India.