NEW DELHI – The Indian army has developed a lucrative sideline in running luxury golf courses on rent-free government land, the nation’s auditor has claimed in a damning new report on corruption. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) found that at least 32 square kilometres (12 square miles) of rent-free land had been handed to a privately-run company, Army Zone Golf, which operates 97 luxury golf courses.
The auditor also found the army had bought golf carts and passed them off as noiseless reconnaissance vehicles or wheelchairs, the CAG’s director general for defence services Gautam Guha told AFP. The defence ministry is the largest state landowner, holding 7,000 square kilometres of government land, much of it now prime real estate, according to the CAG report released Friday.
