A 26-year-old CRPF jawan deployed in Mount Abu posted a video message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging discrimination between the facilities provided to the army and the paramilitary forces. This video comes two days after BSF constable Tej Bahadur Singh posted a video alleging poor diet, low quality food and hunger at border.
CRPF jawan Jeet Singh, who belongs to Mathura, said in his video: "We all do duties whether it is election related, gram panchayat, VIP security, Parliament house, airport, temple, mosque but facilities provided to CRPF are inferior to the armed forces. We don't have ex-servicemen quota, no medical facilities."
Jeet added that, unlike the army, paramilitary jawans are not even entitled to a pension despite having 20 years of service. He added that the facilities provided to the army were far superior than that of the paramilitary forces. He further added that CRPF jawans are posted in dense jungles in states like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand with hardly any facilities while teachers in government colleges are paid a salary of Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 along with leaves on festivals.
The CRPF has taken cognisance of Jeet's video and has said that he has only voiced his aspiration and not complained against any organisation. CRPF Director General Durga Prasad told ANI: "He raised issues (that are) already being discussed. We have already taken these up with the 7th pay commission."
Meanwhile, a former serviceman has filed a PIL in the Delhi High Court seeking a report on the status of all paramilitary forces in the country following the BSF constable Tej Bahadur's allegations in his video. According to India Today, the Prime Minister's Office has also sought a report from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on the issue.
The BSF also issued fresh guidelines on Wednesday regarding maintenance of high quality food for its jawans along the border. They released a statement announcing six measures to provide quality food to its jawans in the border. The MHA has directed the BSF to submit a complete report on allegations of low quality food.
The BSF guidelines include analysing the drawbacks of the current process, recommending improvements in the procedure and the system, vigilance for double checks, encouraging formal and informal interaction with the jawans and introducing systemic innovations to make sure all transactions are cashless in the messes.
The BSF, in its second interim report , also mentioned that the 'daal' shown in the jawan's video was uncanned from tinned food ration and the 'parantha' was cooked in the unit mess according to the procedures followed at high-altitude locations.
Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said that the government has sent "experts and dietitians to each and every post of the border to ensure that the food quality of the jawans is as per the norms."
The BSF is expected to submit the final report in this regard on Thursday.
