Biggest ever travel scam within Defence Forces Exposed! This is a structured loophole, and hardly anyone notices it because it is so well hidden. From the outside, it is almost impossible to see. If you file an RTI, there is a high chance it will be rejected on the... grounds of national defence. Did you know that a public sector company, Balmer Lawrie, is charging the armed forces exorbitant fees—sometimes even double the fare available in the retail market? Unfortunately, soldiers rarely raise their voices because their travel expenses are fully reimbursed. The bigger question is: why is the Ministry of Finance silent? Where is the financial oversight? This money comes from the Ministry of Defence’s budget. It could have been used to procure bulletproof jackets and other essential equipment for our armed forces. Instead, a system has been created that primarily benefits a PSU and some private companies involved in running it. I hope this video exposes the issue and that the government abolishes the Defence Travel System in the larger interest of the country as soon as possible. Also, CAG needs to do a thorough investigation. Ministry of Defence, Government of India रक्षा मंत्री कार्यालय/ RMO India Defence Accounts Department PMO India CAG of India ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳show more

This is not a scam within the Defence Forces. You are painting the wrong door black. Who issued the notification that all travel tickets of government employees will be booked thru Balmer Lawrie, Ashoka Travels and IRCTC? Not the DMA.

I’m not; to benefit some of the PSUs ; it’s done intentionally. But at the cost of exchequers and convenience of soldiers

#PlotTwist

Balmer lawrie is a PSU hence president of India is shown as a stakeholder but with lot of interesting history, eg it was almost on the verge of getting acquired by Adani 4 years ago.

@_bababooks Earlier air india used to do the same. Govt scamming govt.

@_bababooks Yes and tax payers are the biggest loser

Balmer Lawrie - Also handles PSUs employee travels (official not personal). Ex: ONGC, Oil India, etc. On contrary, when employees travel for work for Big MNCs they get discounted rates as compared to retail rates.

In their case due to fierce competition, they give better rates but in defence knowing the defence budget can be looted; they do it entirely opposite

I guess Balmer Lawrie benefits from these highly overpriced tkts. Why doesnt Ministry of Defence take cognisance of the issue? Finally its paid thru Defence budget

There is no business of doing business by govt. They shud just focus on policy and regulations. But everyone is busy with addl retirement plan.

Absolutely. They need to be competitive can’t let Balmer Lawrie make profits from govt funds. A friend in a PSU used to tell me they used to go for training programs abroad, 5 star dining, was cribbing a few yrs ago all has stopped & now only at training centre in India

If true, this is really scary, shameful and shocking! If such a scam exists that could be spotted so easily, then can we imagine what are other deep rooted, difficult spot ones? @PMOIndia - please stop these and do the full , transparent investigation and hang the involved! #supremeCourt

@JagdeepDESAI9 @PMOIndia It needs a serious @IndiaCAG audit ! We are simply wasting defence budget instead of buying bulletproof vests for soldiers

@JagdeepDESAI9 @PMOIndia @IndiaCAG This is indeed a serious issue. If we have such deep rooted corruption even in defence, we are living in the illusion of becoming a developed country!

@JagdeepDESAI9 @PMOIndia @IndiaCAG Yes! But just got to know that CAG can’t audit defence; is it true?

Is this the reason MSTC is coming up with similar business to take share away from balmer. I think this would force balmer to offer more competitive fare. That said its stupid to charge super inflated prices.

Wrongly demonstrated, incorrect understanding. Fares quoted by online agents or direct airlines are not final charges, it excludes convenience fees upto 600 rs or even more. Found BL and IRCTc offering corp fare at lower (total) price than others (with scam of coupon codes etc)

Corp fares are never double of retail fare. Even if you add 600; you can’t compensate the difference of 10K. And if they’re so fair then why they keep their platform so closed. BL is a travel company too so why are they not opening it for general public too? Because they’re incapable to meet their standards

@WiserforWise The BL price includes seat price, corporate meal etc. When you add these up in the airline fare it will come up to more than BL. Best part - Tickets booked through BL can be canceled or rescheduled at a very reasonable cost. I book all my travels through BL.

@WiserforWise I know that! Btw the best part is called corporate fare. It comes with free seat selection, meal and 199-399 Rs cancellation fees and it’s hardly 10-20% costlier than retail fare but double. I’ve seen both the worlds so I’m telling this with some conviction.

All Central Govt officers are charged these rates . Its a big scam going on since 2006 when air travel for officers was approved as a 6th CPC recommendation.

Balmer Lawrie is a Kolkata based tea company

Not tea but they started with grease

Corruption in defence is huge, people ofter overlook it in Nationalism. For starters just check the how much wealth Health officer accumulated over army bharti. For every candidate they charge in lakhs bribe.

I agree...eg TCS charges a whopping 100Cr to maintain Sparsh which wasnt needed at first....earlier banks used to manage it so well

🫢☹️ We consider Armed forces as infallible but alas !

the civilian staff posted in MoD ruins reputation more

🫤no words.. agreed has no limits

@PMOIndia @FinMinIndia Your government is trying to extract every bit of money from people of India by way of various taxes & stamp duty. While the tax money is being wasted in these type of scams or corruption. What are you doing to stop the wastage of funds by crocks?

Wsa army walo.k lia udchalo ha bro isa koi use nhi krta delhi meerut cantt m office h ud chalo k jisma jawan betha h unit kaa.....or uska price same ya low hi rhta haa mna khud 4 baar book krwai haa

This is compulsory for every offr and ORs while travelling to field locations

Ok but who peecha sa unit ka babu krta hoga ...wo defence wale ko ptaa hoga ki wo army kyu double de rhi h pr Ma kai officers ko janta hu and or ko sbhi udchalo hi use krta h ya koi or pr isa koi nhi krta

Personaly koi use nhi krta ha official rule k pta nhi haa

Yes personal koi nahi karta; but official mein mandate hai

Which PSU?

Balmer Lawrie

@payyaboy Excellent points sir.

@payyaboy 🙏🏼

Check CSD too. Once upon a time it was a got-to place for high quality products, now 70% of them are substandard and fishy or full of junk.

if you book through ud Chalo they always give you last seats near the laboratory and price are always high and if you go by train your seat never confirmed being a fouji always hurts. @pi_adg @RailMinIndia @AAI_Official

@pi_adg @RailMinIndia @AAI_Official Once defence fares were heavily discounted when it was started by udChalo; there used to be multiple airlines generously offering tickets but now . All thanks to duopoly; golden days are over.

@pi_adg @RailMinIndia @AAI_Official Absolutely right sir.

This is not only happening in army but if you check all of the central govt employee/gazatted officers they have to get booked via only certain approved airlines. you can understand why?

Now you see what's imposed onto armed forces ontu us by babus sitting in MoD doing MoU good for nothing with and deliberately causing loss to govt. But kya kare fauji ki Sunni to h nhi. Karo jo karna h

Someone please raise with CSD HQ that many AFD items listed on CSD are more costlier than Flipkart/Amazon prices. Then what is the point of purchasing from CSD?

Bound to happen more going fwd! No mistake of CSD . It’s because of deep discountsing by others

Policy of Government: SCAM the citizens/people without them realising they are being SCAMMED. Inflate prices exponentially then give discounts - irrespective of the actual change in cost of production/service. Fertilizers, agricultural tools, railways & airline fares... etc

Iirc, they book tickets with no restrictions. Fully refundable and changable. Thats always the case with PSUs.

That's called Corporate fare...the difference between retail and corp fare is always around 5-10% not beyond that....Showing you with an example

Typical Corporate is not flexible/fully refundable. While we can argue if they need fully refundable dares, that is the policy of PSUs. In your video you can see the fare classes. R is restricted.

Fares*

Ab @nitin_gadkari apane bete ko ethanol plant me help kare, @AmitShah apane bete ko @ICC chairman banane me help kare, @narendramodi Italy madam se milne jay to fir @rajnathsingh kyu piche rahe. Rajnath ko bhi to kuch mauke milne chahiye desh ki seva ke liye.

20 years ago Govt run AI also would charge inflated fares for travel abroad by Defence officers. A ticket from Mumbai to Tel Aviv would cost ₹60000 by El Al. The same route in AI( via Paris) would cost ₹220000.On the same route,AI fares would be much higher than other airlines.

If you consider the convenience fee/ booking fee, seat fee, food charges of the private platforms, then you can be 1000% sure that Balmer Lawrie is the best platform for Gov Employees. Telling from personal experience as I book at least two tickets every month!

Very subjective; let’s do a fare comparison including everything right away . Show me a BL fare and I will show you what better alternatives are avl

That's the fare list for 12/07/2026 from Delhi to Kolkata with the filter "0 stop". Now please provide the better alternatives!

This is not DTS. Sharing a mobile screenshot when DTS can only open on computers?

Hr ek dept mein corruption hai ,defence ko overlook kr diya jata h nationalism k naam pr jbki asli dhndha wahin ho rha h

Right pocket to left pocket for govt, as both fully owned by govt

Bilkul sahi.

Sabka hisaa jata hai upar tak.....defence budget suffers due to lack of budget because money is being channelled to benefit otherS

What a scam @rajnathsingh @RajnathSingh_in @PMOIndia @narendramodi @adgpi U r babus are same corrupt ones like other Deptts post the guilty to Siachen

@DefenceMinIndia

DTS is Pethatic service provided by MoD in Cohorts with CGDA to drain defence budget, very rigid reservation procedure and IT Hardware to ensuring u don’t get reservation , and complex paperwork thereafter to save your money by hawks siting in PCDA , exorbitant cost off course

Sirji, it's the same everywhere. My mother was a cancer patient, so we had to get PET-CT scan done often. It used to cost me around 20k for each scan. However, the same thing used to cost around 24k for CGHS patients, a premium of 20%!! I was quite baffled!

There is clearly a huge difference of ticket booking rates.If the air ticket is booked through direct online purchase the rates r low but when the booking is done through Balmer Lawrie the rate of ticket increases drastically. It's a serious matter that needs deep investigation.

@tehseenp @ni5arga @nixxin @sidhant_sarthak