Under fire from various quarters following the death of three youths during the ongoing State Police recruitment drive in Kurukshetra, the Haryana Government on Tuesday issued fresh directions for the recruitment.
The directions were issued following a meeting held under Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar regarding the police recruitment on Tuesday.
Suspected overdose of performance enhancing drugs is believed to have killed three young men who were appearing for the Haryana Police’s physical test in Kurukshetra for recruitment of constables. All the three men in their early 20s died last week.
After the deaths and recoveringy of drugs from recruitment venue and arrests of youth while taking drugs, the BJP led State Government has faced criticism from opposition parties and former police officers for not following the prescribed rules for police recruitment and allegedly pushing the youth into drug abuse.
The Chief Minister has expressed concern over the use of drugs by the youth of the State in the areas adjoining Punjab and said that there is a need to educate the youth about ill effects of drugs. Also, more drug de-addiction centres should be set up in the state so as to enable the youth to get rid of this menace, said he earlier in the day while speaking at an event here on Tuesday.
The State Government has, meanwhile, decided that the police recruitment process would continue in Kurukshetra. Among the registered youth, 7,000 would be called for physical test every day from July 7 onwards.
Following the meeting with Chief Minister, chairman Haryana Staff Selection Commission, Bharat Bhushan while talking to the mediapersons said that the test would be conducted in two sessions, i.e., morning and evening and 3500 candidates each would appear for physical test during these sessions.
Now, medical facility has been improved at recruitment venue in Kurukshetra along with better drinking water supply. The medical teams are already deployed at the venue. Now, they would be deployed at the halfway of the running track to assist the candidates if required, said he.
He said that six officials are generating awareness regarding consumption of intoxicants among the youth, who had been taking part in the recruitment drive. A team of doctors and ambulance would remain present on the spot.
If any youth is suspected of having consumed any intoxicant, he would be questioned immediately, he said.
On being asked to carry out recruitment process at any other place, Bhushan said that over 400m track is available here in Kurukshetra only. He also ruled out the possibility of carrying out a district wise police recruitment process as demanded by the opposition parties.
About the rules of recruitment process, he clarified that the rules for recruitment has been fixed by the State Government and not by HSSC. A transparent and merit based selection procedure has been adopted for police recruitment, he added.
A special team has been constituted to keep vigil on candidates and directions have been issued to depute four doctors to examine the candidates before their registration, he informed.
Following the death of three youth, the Police has also directed chemists of the town not to sell any prohibited drugs to the youths and have also assigned duty to policemen in civil uniform at bus stops, parks, and other public places.
As many as 5.25 lakh candidates from Haryana and nearby states have applied for the 7,000 posts of general duty constables of Haryana Police. So far, 1.30 lakh candidates have participated in the physical test till July 2.
More than 10,000 youth in the 18-25 age group from across Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh come to Kurukshetra every day to take part in the recruitment drive, which begins with running 5 km in 25 minutes.
A day before, taking suo motu cognizance of lack of basic facilities for candidates appearing for selection to constables’ posts, Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC) had sought explanation from the State Government and HSSC for conducting the recruitment drive.
While issuing the notices to additional chief secretary (home), HSSC secretary and Director General of police, the Human Rights Commission had directed the three officers to file their replies on the issues.
Retired police officials from Haryana on Tuesday also raised questions on the police recruitment process being followed by the State Government. Former IPS officer Ranbir Sharma along with former DSPs of the state alleged that police manual is being ignored during the recruitment process.
The recruitment process is usually held in October to November or February to March but the BJP led Haryana Government is conducting the recruitment drive in summer season. Apart
from this, candidates are affected due to lack of infrastructure at the recruitment venue, they alleged.
On the other hand, Congress and INlD have slammed the State Government for failing to keep a check on drug abuse during the recruitment. Congress alleged that BJP’s incompetence has
pushed the state’s youth into the dangerous web of drug abuse and sought a white paper on the menace and action taken against drug mafia while INlD has demanded district wise police recruitment process in the State.