Armed Forces get emergency financial powers to fight Covid crisis

India's armed forces were granted emergency financial powers to augment their efforts in the battle against COVID-19, the second wave of which has brought devastation to the country in the past few weeks. These new powers will help them operate facilities, procure equipment and resources, and perform any required urgent tasks.They will establish and operate hospitals, quarantine facilities, and to undertake procurement of Covid-specific equipment without the usual clearances. Making the announcement, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday tweeted.

These powers will help Formation Commanders to
establish and operate quarantine facilities/ hospitals and to undertake procurement/ repair of eqpt/ items/ material/ stores, besides provisioning of various services and works required to support the ongoing effort against COVID.

— रक्षा मंत्री कार्यालय/ RMO India (@DefenceMinIndia) April 30, 2021

Under these...Corps Commanders/Area Commanders have been delegated powers upto Rs 50 lakh per case and Division Commanders/Sub Area Commanders and equivalents have been delegated powers upto Rs 20 lakh per case," a Defence Ministry statement said. "These powers have been devolved initially for a period of three months from 1st May to 31st July 2021.These are in addition to the emergency powers delegated to the Medical Officers of the Armed Forces last week," it said.