NEW DELHI: Sixteen of 28 officers selected to join the Border Security Force have declined this year, the English daily in New Delhi reported on Monday.

This comes amid escalated tension between India and Pakistan and forceful anti-India protests in occupied Kashmir. Earlier this year, a BSF officer had also uploaded videos saying that the force did not feed its troops well.

The report said, 28 candidates were selected to join the BSF after they had taken the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination. Sixteen of them declined to join. They risk not being allowed to ever appear for the paramilitary exams ever again. The force has 522 vacancies currently, for gazetted officers in the Assistant Commandant post or above. Last year, only 17 of 31 officers who were selected joined the force, while out of those who had taken the exam in 2013, 69 of the 110 selected officers had joined. Fifteen had resigned during training, the report added.

The BSF had sacked Tej Bahadur Yadav, who had shot videos criticising the paramilitary force.—NNI