Leh: For the last one week Namgiyal Phunsung has been travelling to villages in Ladakh to collect ethnic food materials for jawans at the LAC. In many remote areas of Ladakh people are keen to part a portion of the foods preserved by them for the harsh winter months when temperature drops from minus 20 to minus 30 degrees for the men guarding the borders.
They are sending local ethnic foods including dried food and apricots. The food materials collected are loaded on the vans and handed to the local army units for men at the forward positions along the LAC.
“I am collecting food materials from different villages. People are telling me that they are busy harvesting right now and have asked me to return after a couple of weeks for more such food for the troops,” Namgiyal Phunsung said.
“We are very happy that people are coming forward with contributions for the Indian army, people from all the villages are chipping in for this cause purely out of love,” he added.
At Iglo village, 55 kilometres from Leh most people say they have served in the armed forces and it is an honour for them to send the food for the men guarding the borders in inhospitable weather conditions amid the current standoff.
“It gives us great pleasure to send food for the Indian army, we will continue to do that,” said one of the volunteers collecting the food materials. Whenever there has been a fight in the past, people of Ladakh have in the forefront to contribute their bit.
And as the tension now escalates at the LAC and the borders are being beefed up with men and materials to prevent any misadventure by the Chinese PLA, this is an clearly an expression of respect by the people in Ladakh for the men defending the borders.