As India ordered an inquiry into a complaint by a Border Security Force (BSF) trooper at the Line of Control (LoC) that he and his colleagues were served bad food, the soldier said on Tuesday he has been transferred to the headquarters as a plumber.
Tej Bahadur Yadav posted videos alleging that troops are served bad quality food and sometimes they even go hungry, The Hindu said on Tuesday.
The videos, posted by the constable of the BSF’s 29th battalion, have gone viral, it said.
India Today said the video focused on the seemingly poor quality of food served to jawans stationed in the challenging terrains of Jammu and Kashmir. It quoted Yadav as saying that he has been transferred from the BSF camp back to the headquarters and has been assigned a plumber’s duty.
He also said that his commandant had tried to get him to take down the video.
Yadav said that he believed that authorities won’t target him since the video had gone viral also saying, “I am not afraid of losing my job...I have shown what the reality is at the post”.
“If soldiers [are] benefited because of me, then I am ready to fight,” the jawan added, going on to say that a lot will be revealed once an inquiry is carried out.
In videos uploaded on Facebook on Sunday evening, the trooper, 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 four 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.
Indian soldier in Kashmir complains of deplorable food, frequent hunger
A man who claims to be a soldier of the Indian armed forces has released a series of videos on social media citing 'corruption' in the Indian army as the reason his battalion receives substandard food and experiences frequent hunger.
The man in the video introduces himself as Tej Bahadur Yadav, a soldier serving in the 29th Battalion of the Border Security Force (BSF). He is standing with a snow-covered mountain in the backdrop.
"We don't want to blame the government because it does send us the food. However, it is all sold off in the markets before it gets to us," Yadav claims in the video.
"A lot of times we go to sleep hungry," the soldier adds, saying their breakfast consists of a "burnt paratha" with tea, and tasteless lentils for lunch and dinner.
"How are we expected to perform a 10-hour-long duty with this nutrition," Yadav says, adding the situation has been persisting for over 10 days and counting.
"I want to reiterate the Indian government does send us food but we don't know where it goes," the BSF soldier said, adding he fears for his life for raising the issue.
"Spread this message and make sure it reaches the concerned authorities as I do not know what will become of me after this video is posted," Yadav says.
Later, Indian Home Minister Raj Nath directed the ministry of foreign affairs to submit a report on BSF.
