Indian Army refutes reports, says no plan to shift Agnipath recruitment rallies from Punjab - Details

Major General Sharad Bikram Singh, the zonal officer, in his letter dated September 8 said that support from the civil administration in the state was “vacillating with no clear-cut commitments”.

TN National Desk

Updated Sep 14, 2022, 15:26 IST

Agnipath

Photo : PTI

Chandigarh: Citing lack of support from the Punjab government, the Indian Army has said that it will be forced to suspend the recruitment rallies in the state, under the short-term Agnipath scheme, or shift them to neighbouring states.

The Army sources, however, said that they are not planning to move the recruitment rallies out of Punjab.

"Indian Army's recruitment of Agniveers as per Agnipath scheme is progressing as per schedule for recruiting year 2022-23. Specifically, in Punjab, recruitment rallies in Ludhiana and Gurdaspur were successfully conducted with full support of civil administration," the sources told ANI.

"The registration and footfall of candidates has been encouraging as per trends of previous years. It is reiterated that there is no plan to shift recruitment rallies from Punjab to any other state(s)," they added.

In a letter to the AAP government in Punjab, a zonal recruitment officer of the Indian Army from Jalandhar complained of lack of support from the local civil administration.

Major General Sharad Bikram Singh, the zonal officer, in his letter dated September 8 said that support from the civil administration in the state was “vacillating with no clear-cut commitments”.

In the letter addressed to Punjab chief secretary VK Janjua and principal secretary, employment generation, skill development and training, Kumar Rahul, Major General Singh said that civil administration cited a lack of direction from the state government or a lack of funds for their reported inadequacies.

The zonal officer said that he would take up the matter with Army headquarters to either “hold in abeyance” all the recruitment rallies under Agnipath in the state, or alternatively, conduct the rallies in neighbouring states.

Responding to the reports, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann directed district authorities to provide full support for 'Agnipath' recruitment rallies.

"All deputy commissioners were directed to provide complete support to Army authorities for recruitment of Agniveers in Punjab. Any laxity shall be viewed seriously. Every effort will be made to recruit a maximum number of candidates into army from the state," he said in a tweet.

The Centre launched the Agnipath scheme in June for the recruitment of youngsters aged between 17-and-a-half and 21 years in the army, navy and air force, largely on a four-year contractual basis. It later relaxed the upper age limit for this year’s recruitment to 23.

In June, the Punjab Assembly had passed a resolution by voice vote against the military recruitment scheme, urging the Centre to immediately roll back it in the larger interest of the country.

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