Jammu, June 16: Terming the claims of the BJP government of having brought transparency in recruitments for government jobs as a “cruel joke” with the unemployed educated youth, the National Panthers Party (NPP) president and former minister Harsh Dev Singh on Friday said the recent statement of the Central ministers made during the ‘Rozgar melas’ in this regard has only evoked cynicism amongst the masses.
“Even PM Modi seems to be ill-informed, especially with regard to the highly controversial selections made in J&K during the last few years which had earned the helmsmen the most dubious notoriety,” Singh said while addressing a press conference here.
“The recent past has been witness to the culture of fake, backdoor and other paid appointments growing by leaps and bounds. And whereas the post-reorganization era witnessed large scale retrenchments, of even the regularly engaged government employees, the new UT saw the resultant vacancies being put on sale by the various recruitment bodies through blacklisted agencies,” he said.
Pointing towards the “much-publicised scam” in the selection of PSIs, FAAs and JEs in the UT, the NPP president said, “It was the public outrage and fear of adverse consequences that had forced the government to rescind the said list wherein crores (of rupees) had been swindled by a corrupt mafia.”
He alleged that the irregular selections of Firemen and drivers made in the Fire Services Department through “dubious means” was also highlighted umpteen times in the media “but the helmsmen have chosen to push the matter under the carpet for reasons best known”. “In another job scam of gargantuan proportions, the J&K Bank made appointments of around 3000 Banking Associates and Clerks through backdoor which too has failed to invite due attention of authorities concerned despite the issue having been highlighted by the erstwhile State Governor SP Malik,” Singh alleged.
Alleging the commission of the “biggest recruitment scandal” in the BJP-PDP rule, Harsh Dev said, “More than 4000 SPOs were engaged in 2017-18 through the backdoor without following any procedure and the officers who made such appointments were rewarded with prized postings by the then BJP-PDP government.”
He alleged several other scams during the BJP-PDP government, and said, “Even the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had in a statement in March this year said that 2.5 lakh employees had been recruited in J&K through backdoor. And the Chief Secretary AK Mehta had also pointed out in a media statement that 1 lakh daily rated workers had been illegally engaged.”
Pointing towards his short stint of three years as Education Minister, Harsh Dev said he had made selections of 35000 youth as RET with not a single finger having been raised on the floor of the assembly or outside. “Even the national media had reported at the time that a history has been created wherein the transparent functioning of a minister received all round appreciation across the board from ruling as well all opposition members without any exception,” the NPP president said.
