Days of military commanders living in sprawling bungalows set to come to an end

New Delhi, Feb 10: There are intense discussions on to reduce the pension cost to the exchequer in the military.

Hectic discussions are on between the Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat and the three service chiefs on this aspect. The pension budget has mounted to Rs 1.33 lakh crore in 2020 as opposed to the Rs 41,000 crore it was in 2010.

General Rawat has favoured increasing the retirement age of certain classes of non-combatants and medical staff to 58 from 39. This would help in reducing the pension cost, the CDS feels.

Another aspect under discussion is to do away with colonial bungalows. The CDS prefer vertical housing with the armed forces generating their own resources to fund this project. The project is called the New Moti Bagh Model. General Rawat is in favour of agencies such as the National Highways Authority of India to fund military housing projects as per the specifications of the military. The projects would also be monitored by the military and this would be in lieu of compensation for acquiring cantonment lands.

Further the military also plans on generating Rs 35,000 crore in the next seven years. This would mean that military commanders living in sprawling bungalows would stop. Officers would start living in flats and in one building, sources familiar with the development confirmed to OneIndia.