'Punjab has seen no paper leak in my tenure of 4.5 years': CM Bhagwant Mann
CM dismisses Opposition allegations over pharmacy recruitment exam; says all cheaters in jail
Rejecting allegations of a paper leak in Punjab, Chief Minister (CM) Bhagwant Mann on Sunday claimed that not a single question paper of a competitive exam has been leaked in the state during his reign of four-and-a-half years.
Mann, who was addressing a state-level function in Zirakpur (near Chandigarh) to honour 882 students of government schools who passed the NEET-UG examination, said, “A few days ago, an incident of cheating (copying) in exams came to light in a pharmacy officers’ recruitment test. However, just 10 minutes after the exam started, the cheaters, violators and those who had copied were caught and are in jail now.”
The CM was indirectly replying to opposition parties, including SAD, Congress and BJP’s allegations of a multi-crore scam in the pharmacy officers’ recruitment test, wherein
7,000 aspirants appeared for 454 posts across 25 centres in Faridkot, Kotkapura and Ferozepur on July 19.
Alleging that question papers were sold openly for Rs 10-15 lakhs, National General Secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Chugh on Sunday sought a CBI investigation in the case as the state police has been trying to whitewash the situation. Punjab education minister Harjot Singh Bains must also resign,” he said.
Mann congratulated all students, 660 girls and 222 boys, for their hard work, and said, “If the NEET-UG paper had not been leaked, then this figure of Punjab students would have crossed 1000.”
He also claimed that many students could not appear in the re-examination of NEET.
“It is very unfortunate that these important examination question papers were leaked in our country in 2017, 2019, 2022, 2024 and 2026. It breaks the hearts of the students. 22 children of the country who committed suicide will never come back and their family’s loss cannot be repaid with compensation,” he said.
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leader Abhijeet Dipke paid homage to those 22 students on Saturday at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi after the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The 36-day CJP protest in New Delhi was remarkable as the GenZs turned out in huge numbers, many from Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh and rooted for reforms in the education sector and functioning of the NTA.
