Uttarakhand CM suspends senior Home Guards Officer over alleged uniform procurement irregularities
Dehradun: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday ordered the immediate suspension of Deputy Inspector General and Deputy Commandant General (DCG) Home Guards Amitabh Srivastava over alleged financial irregularities in the procurement of uniforms in the Home Guards and Civil Defence department.
The chief minister also directed the constitution of a joint inquiry committee to investigate the matter, which pertains to the 2024-25 financial year, as reported by Hindustan Times. Officials said uniforms worth around ₹1 crore were allegedly procured at an inflated cost of nearly ₹3 crore, causing a substantial loss to the state exchequer.
The irregularities came to light after Director General of Home Guards PVK Prasad noticed that a fresh tender for 2025-26 had been floated at the same inflated rates. The DG cancelled the tender and ordered a departmental inquiry, which found that Srivastava had allegedly colluded with a contractor to manipulate the tender process and procure uniforms at nearly three times the market price.
Based on the inquiry findings, the DG recommended strict action, including registration of a criminal case and recovery of ₹2 crore. He said the report was forwarded to the state government for further action after the inquiry established a financial loss of around ₹2 crore.
Officials said the tender process was allegedly structured to favour a particular contractor and was halted once the discrepancies were detected. Following the inquiry, the department stopped further procurement of uniforms through the tender route and is considering providing a uniform allowance directly to Home Guard personnel to purchase their own uniforms.
A senior government official said the suspension was ordered on the DG’s recommendation, along with the formation of a joint inquiry committee to conduct a detailed probe into the matter.
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Veteran BBC journalist Mark Tully, known as ‘voice of India’, passes away at 90
New Delhi: British journalist and broadcaster Mark Tully, widely regarded as the BBC’s “voice of India”, passed away on Sunday at the age of 90. He had been hospitalised for a week, news agency ANI reported.
Born in Kolkata, Tully moved to the United Kingdom in his early years before returning to India in 1965 for work. He joined the British Broadcasting Corporation as an administrative assistant and went on to become its bureau chief in New Delhi, a role he held for nearly two decades.
Over a long and influential career, Tully reported on some of the most defining moments in modern Indian history. His coverage included the wars between India and Pakistan, the Emergency imposed in 1975, communal riots, the Bhopal gas tragedy and Operation Blue Star.
In 1984, during Operation Blue Star ordered by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Tully and fellow journalist Satish Jacob were the only reporters to enter the Golden Temple complex and report on the presence of fortifications before the military action against Sikh militants.
Tully’s tenure in India also saw confrontations with authority. During the Emergency, the BBC was expelled from the country in 1975 after it refused to sign a government-mandated censorship agreement. Tully, who was then the BBC’s Delhi correspondent, was given just 24 hours to leave India.
Known for his deep understanding of Indian society and politics, Tully remained closely associated with the country long after his formal retirement, earning respect for his balanced reporting and long engagement with India’s public life.
