Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has ordered an enquiry after a Border Security Force (BSF) jawan posted videos on social media, alleging that troops are served bad quality food and sometimes they even go hungry.
The videos, posted by constable Tej Bahadur Yadav of the BSF’s 29th batallion, have gone viral.
“I have seen a video regarding a BSF jawan’s plight. I have asked the HS [Home Secretary] to immediately seek a report from the BSF & take appropriate action,” Mr. Singh tweeted on Monday.
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In videos uploaded on Facebook on Sunday evening, the jawan, wearing camouflage uniform and carrying a rifle, claimed that while the government procured essentials for them, the higher-ups and officers “sold it off” in an “illegal” manner in the market.
In three different videos, clocking over 4-minutes and released online, Yadav (40) shows the food that is being allegedly served to him.
“We only get a ‘parantha’ and tea as breakfast and this is without any pickle or vegetables… we slog for 11 hours and at times we have to stand throughout the duty hours. For lunch, we get ‘dal’ [pulses], which only has ‘haldi’ [turmeric] and salt… with roti. This is the quality of the food we get… how can a jawan do his duty? “I request the Prime Minister to get this probed… no one shows our plight,” Yadav alleged.
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A senior BSF official said Yadav is currently deployed along the Line of Control in J&K and the BSF jawans here worked under the operational command of the Army, which also provides for “food and other logistics of the jawans”.
Yadav said he “may not be here”, hinting that action might be taken against him, and urged people to take the issue forward so that corrective action is taken. He also alleged that at times jawans have to go to sleep “empty stomach”.
The BSF took cognisance of the video and tweeted from its official handle that an inquiry has been ordered. “BSF is highly sensitive to the welfare of tps(troops). Individual aberrations, if any, are enquired into. A senior officer has already rchd (reached) the location,” the force tweeted after tagging the video.
It has been found, the official said, Yadav was given four major punishments in the past and issued reprimands for alleged violation of discipline.
“However, the force has already ordered for a full investigation into the allegations made by Yadav who joined the force in 1996,” the official said, adding the jawan has applied for voluntary retirement.