To elicit the attention of the State Government towards their pending demands on the last day of the two-day Vidhan Sabha special session, several organisations rallied to Vidhan Sabha on Friday. Some stone pelting was reported during the stir. However, police denied it.
Hundreds of SC/ST/OBC Backlog Sangharsh Samiti Uttarakhand activists assembled at the protest site near Parade Ground and shouted slogans against the State Government for not filling vacant seats reserved for SC/ST/OBCs, lying in various departments in the state.
The protesters warned that they would intensify their protest unless one- point- demand of filling the vacant seats reserved for SC/ST/OBCs in various Government offices is met.
large number of protesters led by its leader Kamlesh Bhatt rallied towards Vidhan Sabha. However, they were restricted at Rispana barricade by police. Administration had made elaborate security arrangements at the barricade and the protest site ensure order. Police faced verbal arguments when the protesters tried to break the barricade. Bhatt said that large numbers of posts reserved for SC/ST/OBCs in various government departments are lying vacant for the last many years. Unemployed youths of reserved sections of society are being neglected thus, he alleged.
“We have been compelled to stage the sit-in in support of our demand. If recruitment is not conducted for vacant seats, backlog on these posts would rise further. The intended beneficiaries would lose their opportunities to get jobs in the Government offices. He appealed the State Government to launch special drive for filling backlog seats reserved for SC/ST/OBCs in the State,” he said. Bhatt warned that they would go for indefinite hunger strike if recruitment process is not being started without delay.
SP City Ajay Singh denied that there was any stone pelting during the stir. However, he said that a window of city bus was reportedly smashed. The protesters had been brought at police lines through the city buses, he added. He further said that they had held a meeting with the representatives of the agitators. The protest went off peacefully on the last day of the Vidhan Sabha special session, he claimed.