The Youth Akali Dal (YAD) and the Students Organization of India (SOI) today held a massive dharna outside the office of the Punjab Subordinate Services Selection Board (PSSSB) headquarters here to protest against large scale irregularities in the conduct of the paper for selection of 197 Excise and Taxation Inspectors besides the cancellation of the selection of 343 psychologists for de-addiction and rehabilitation centres.
The dharna, which was led by YAD president Sarabjit Singh Jhinjer and SOI president Ranbir Singh Rana, witnessed youth protesting outside the PSSSB office for two hours. The youth leaders said there were malpractices, security lapses, database anomalies and a lack of transparency in the result of the Excise and Taxation Inspector examination but no effective action had been taken and that the Board had continued with the selection process despite large-scale objections.
He said though the result had been put on hold after affected candidates reached out to the Punjab and Haryana high court, an independent probe needed to be conducted as to how names like “State Bank of India”, “Karmawala” and “Smile” appeared on the merit list. Mr Sarabjit Jhinjher also spoke on how the Aam Aadmi Party government had cancelled the recruitment of 343 psychologists for de-addiction and rehabilitation centers after written exams were completed.
He said the government had not only done this, but had also come out with another decision to outsource the roles to private agencies. “It is clear that the original list was not to the liking of Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP Delhi high command and that is why a new list is being prepared to recruit outsiders from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh”.
The youth leaders also raised slogans against the PSSSB Chairman and Members on the occasion and asked them why they were betraying the interests of the youth of Punjab on the directions of Kejriwal. They said this was not the first time that the PSSSB had acted in this manner.
“Outsiders from Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana have got recruited to Punjab government jobs by relaxing conditions, including that of knowledge of Punjabi. This is blatant discrimination against an entire generation of youth of Punjab”.
Both Mr Jhinjher and Mr Rana said they would put this issue in the people’s court in the coming days. “We will expose this anti-youth and corrupt AAP party before the people to make sure it is destined to the dustbin of history in the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha elections”, they added. EOM