During the course of the last two years, i.e. 2017 and 2018, a total of 36 Members of Parliament had applied to purchase old army vehicles which have reached the end of their life-cycle with the armed forces. All the MPs who had applied for these disposal vehicles received the same. Out of the 36 MPs, 11 MPs were given vehicles from the Vehicle Sub Depot in Meerut, 15 received it from the Ordnance Depot in Avadi, 3 were allotted their vehicle from the Central Armoured Fighting Vehicle Deport in Kirkee while the remaining 1 each received their vehicle from the 224 ABOD in Jodhpur, Northern Command Vehicle Depot Udhampur and Vehicle Depot Panagarh.
All the Members of Parliament got the vehicle from the same depot from where they had asked for. This information was given by Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Shripad Naik in a written reply to Shri Ajay Pratap Singh in Rajya Sabha today. Old army vehicles are quite popular among Members of Parliament. The reason is primarily because of their dirt cheap price tag. This is because of the condition they are in due to rough use by the armed forces.
The list of vehicles generally includes Maruti Gypsy, Mahindra Jeeps as well as Royal Enfield Bullets. These vehicles are disposed of under the Indian Amy policy and stored in ordnance yard by the forces in exchange of a new vehicle. These are then auctioned in which the general public can also take a part in. People often buy these run-down vehicles, refurbish them and continue using the same. This practice is quite prevalent in rural areas.
