The Union Home Ministry on Monday granted the Border Security Force an extension of two days to submit a new report on a jawan’s allegations about the quality of food served to the troops, PTI reported. Officials said the ministry appears to be dissatisfied with the interim report on jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav’s complaint.
“We rejected the report as there were several contradictions. The report rubbished the allegations made by the soldier and said all was well,” an unidentified official told The Telegraph. The ministry official also said that the force had not addressed any of the problems raised by the jawan in the series of videos posted on social media. BSF Director General KK Sharma met with Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi to discuss the matter.
The BSF has asked its commanders to ensure that constables on duty are not carrying cellphones. The rule against cellphones, authorities said, existed but was never enforced strictly. “Company commanders overlooked personnel carrying phones as long [period of] duties on the border can increase stress levels. The rules will be strictly enforced now,” an unidentified official told the The Indian Express.
Meanwhile, the Home Ministry is reportedly working on a grievance redressal app for the 7.2 lakh Central Armed Paramilitary Forces, the daily reported. With restrictions on cellphones, constables may be forced to use the app while they are off-duty, which may defeat its purpose. “Personnel will not be able to gather photos or recordings [as was done in the recent case] and present evidence before the authorities,” an unidentified official told the English daily.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh has reportedly given the National Informatics Centre a deadline of three months to develop the app, which will include features to ensure confidentiality and also a system where the complaints will be sent to the commander concerned.
The ministry has said that staffers must use the internal grievance redressal system to express their woes, instead of taking to social media. Sharma has also asked his company commanders to highlight loopholes in the internal communication system, and explain why the constable chose social media to express this problems.
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