The Home Ministry refused to accept the report submitted by the Border Security Force (BSF) regarding a Facebook video posted by a BSF jawan where he raises concern about the poor quality of food served to them.
On Monday, BSF DG K.K. Sharma met Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and handed over the report where it was said that there was no compromise on quality and quantity of food served to jawans. It is learnt that Mr. Mehrishi was not satisfied with the report and the DG was asked to submit a revised one in the next two days. Last week, the BSF submitted an interim report to the Home Ministry saying there was no shortage of any kind of food at the post where jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav, who posted the video was serving.
‘No one complained’
“In the report the BSF has also said that a few days ago a senior ranking official had visited Mr. Yadav’s post but neither he nor anyone else complained about the bad quality of food being served to them,” said a senior Home Ministry official. While the rations at the Line of Control (LoC) post in Poonch, where Mr. Yadav was posted, is provided by the Army, it is cooked by BSF personnel tasked for these jobs.
The BSF said the ‘daal’ shown in the jawan’s video was from tinned food rations and the ‘parantha’ was cooked in the unit mess as per procedures followed at high-altitude locations.
A jawan is entitled to around ₹2,800 per month as food allowance and he is given food as per the stipulated amount.
Mr. Yadav claimed that while the government procures essentials for them, the higher-ups and officers “sell them off” in an “illegal” manner in the market and that they have to suffer. He also posted other videos saying the food served was not of good quality.
