BSF dismisses jawan who spoke against bad food
NEW DELHI: The Border Security Force (BSF) has dismissed from service a soldier whose video complaining of poor food and arrangements at a camp along the India-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir went viral on social media in January.
Tej Bahadur Yadav, who was deployed with the force’s 29th Battalion, had alleged that troops were served bad quality food and even had to sleep on “empty stomach” at times, prompting the border-guarding force to initiate an inquiry.
“The issues of disobedience framed against him (Yadav) pertained to going on hunger strike and carrying two mobile phones while on duty. He was asked to eat but did not follow instructions. As far as mobiles are concerned, there is a general order for all BSF troopers, which prohibits them from carrying mobile phones while on duty,” a senior official said on condition of anonymity.
A BSF spokesperson confirmed Yadav has been dismissed.
During the court of inquiry, Yadav’s colleagues did not support his claim of sub-standard food at the camps.
In four different videos uploaded to Facebook, Yadav claimed while the government procured essentials, higher-ups and officers “sold it off” in an “illegal” manner in the market.
“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 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?” he said in a video.
After it went viral on social media, the PMO sought a detailed report from the home ministry and BSF. A petition was also filed in Delhi HC seeking a direction to the government to depute senior officers to supervise cooking of healthy food and its distribution.