BSF jawans in Kutch desert get hardship allowance

From Khaleez Times

Mahesh Trivedi

29 August 2010

AHMEDABAD — The Central government has finally agreed to pay ‘hardship allowance’ to the jawans of the (BSF) performing their tough duty on the India-Pakistan border in the Rann (desert) of Kutch area of Gujarat.

Sources of the BSF camp in Gandhinagar near here said that New Delhi had approved the long-time pending demand of the state government by declaring the Kutch border as a ‘hard area’.

Accordingly, some 20,000 jawans will start receiving additional Rs 1,800 a month from this month itself.

Duty in the Rann of Kutch area is a challenging task due to the strange and tough topography of the area.

For almost six months, the land in Rann of Kutch remains white, salty, marshy, and for the remaining part of the year, it looks like a shallow sea.

The whole of the Rann of Kutch is an uninhabited area because the adverse living conditions there make it geographically not suitable for human habitation.

However, the sources said, hundreds of Border Security Force jawans were doing their duty in the Rann itself facing countless difficulties to protect the border.