Soldiers and paramilitary troops deployed at forward positions in mountainous terrains of Jammu and Kashmir and in naxal-infested forests of Chhattisgarh will now get to savour a new meal every day.

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Mysore-based Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) which has been involved in developing food products for the armed and paramilitary forces will dish out a new menu everyday of the week to cater to the palate of the jawans.

“We are in the process of developing seven different Meals Ready-to-Eat (MRE) for soldiers and paramilitary troops to consume in a week.  Some new food products have been developed and a few are in the pipeline which are awaiting trials,” said Dr AS Bawa, director, DFRL.

One MRE consists of rice, chapatis, veg/non-veg curry, sweet and tea.“The idea is to break the monotony and serve them different food seven days a week,” said Bawa.

DFRL, which has been traditionally supplying food products for the armed forces, is now a major supplier to paramilitary forces, especially the CRPF, which has been active in anti-naxal operations.

“The requirement from the paramilitary force is more than that of the defence forces as the former is currently involved in more combat operations than the latter. About 60,000 MREs have been supplied to CRPF so far and we have orders to supply 8,000 more,” said Bawa.

In addition to the MREs and ration supplied to the armed and paramilitary forces, DFRL is also dishing out anti-depressant bars for jawans so that they do not experience any mental depression borne out of the daily monotony in the line of duty while serving at forward locations.