New Delhi: The Union defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday gave her approval to the list of items that soldiers and Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) could buy with the recently announced annual clothing allowance of Rs 10,000, official sources said.
The list includes summer uniforms, shirt angolas, woolen jerseys, mufti dress and other paraphernalia like lanyard, belt, badges, ribbons, chevron and formation signs. Earlier, all these items were supplied by the ordnance factories. The sources said the Union government felt allowing soldiers to get clothes stitched as per their individual fitment would be a better option. But other items like combat dress, physical fitness training kit, improved physical training shoes, blankets, ground sheets, raincoats, mosquito nets etc will have to be routed through military stores as also special clothing items while being deployed in super high-altitude and extreme cold climate areas like Siachen. The decision after months of deliberation was followed by the Seventh Pay Commission recommendation. It include the annual clothing allowance after feedback received from the soldiers who had issues regarding the quality and fitment of apparel made by ordinance factories.
