Indian Army — kharga sainik aramgah ambala cantt - poor management

Address:

Gautam Buddh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, 201301

I am an army veteran – a jco having left army around 23 years ago. I want to share a horrible experience i had today.

I wanted to make a booking for self and wife to stay in the above facility (Kharga sainik aramgah, ambala cantt) on 07 july 2018. Called up[protected] today around noon. The gentleman there told me that he has no control over booking rooms and that i have to approach corps hq. He gave me contact no of army exchange[protected] and asked me to get in touch with q branch of hq 2 corps (Extn no 6668). When i called up army exchange at around 12.30 pm today, 28 june 2018, the operator informed me, after verifying my credentials, that he cannot connect me to the q branch extn no 6668 due to security reasons. Promised to pass on my request to them and said that i should expect a call back. When nothing happened i called up army exchange after some time, again. This time there was another operator. He connected me to 6668!

Unfortunately, this person in q branch told me that for one night, no registration/booking in corps hq was required and that i should go there and stay. When i asked what would i do in case the room on 07 july is not available, he started fumbling. Unable to give a logical answer he handed over the phone to another person. This person (Nk rana, i suppose), took my details and said that he will do the needful. When i asked him whether he will call me back to confirm booking or otherwise, he said i have to call again to check this! If this is not harassment, what is?

My question to the army chief and his representative below him is this.

• why can not the concerned officers, brig adm/station commander etc, see for themselves how things operate on the ground.
• why cannot the concerned person in kharga sainik aramgah itself make or decline booking on the spot. – depending on the availability.
• with such cumbersome procedures to avail entitled facilities, what message are you military leaders sending to the unempowered.
• would you not like to check for some kind of corruption or mal-practices that may have been taking place.
• hope the procedure has not been deliberately made complex to avoid people from approaching for room booking!

It was a very bad experience. Who would like to stay in such facilities if attitude of the people on the ground is so casual, callous and unfriendly.

Good luck to you all.

Prem goswami
[protected]

Ps. I will not be staying in this kharga facility.