Army exam aspirants stage protest

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Jalandhar, January 15

Commuters were a harried lot as hundreds of Army aspirants from the district blocked Jalandhar-Phagwara National Highway 1 near Rama Mandi here for over an hour to mark their protest against the Central Government.

The protesters said around 30,000 youths from the state out of which over 2,000 were from Jalandhar. They had appeared in the physical fitness exam for Army recruitment in December 2020 at different centres in Punjab, while the written exam that was supposed to be held in January 2021 was being postponed repeatedly.

They said the exams for recruitment in the Police Department and the written exam of those who had applied for clerical and technical posts in the Army were held, but their written exam for the post for which they had applied had not been conducted till date.

“The exam has been postponed for nearly seven or eight times in the past. It was first scheduled for January, March, and then September last year and then citing Covid-19 they postponed it. We have no idea what’s going on, why the government is not conducting the exam, and if it’s due to Covid-19, why entrance exams are being conducted,” asked Fatehveer, a youth from Shahkot.

He said due to this irresponsible attitude of the government, they were forced to sit on roads and hold a protest against this unfair treatment being meted out to them.

Another protester said they had spent nearly Rs 25,000 on coaching to prepare for the exam. “We are not from very well-off families that can afford to sit home or spend more on coaching. We appeal to the Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, to take the matter with the government officials as it’s important for us to appear for the written examination on time,” said Himanshu from Jalandhar.

Many aspirants were also worried about crossing the maximum age limit if the exam was not held on time.

Meanwhile, a massive traffic jam was witnessed on the highway due to the protest. A number of commuters were stranded and had to wait for an hour for the traffic to move smoothly. Many passengers in buses and four-wheelers who were travelling to Delhi airport complained that they might miss their flights.

BLOCK NH 1, SAY THEY ARE A HARRIED LOT

The protesters said over 2,000 youths were from Jalandhar. They had appeared in the physical fitness exam for the recruitment in the Army in December 2020 at different centres in Punjab, while the written exam that was supposed to be held in January 2021 was being postponed repeatedly. They said the exams for recruitment in the Police Department and the written exam of those who had applied for clerical and technical posts in the Army were held, but their written exam for the post for which they had applied had not been conducted till date. They said they were forced to sit on roads due to this. A number of commuters were stuck due to this.