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‘Any laxity…’: Bhagwant Mann after Army's letter to Punjab over Agnipath
A zonal recruitment officer of the Indian Army has reportedly written to the Punjab government saying that recruitment rallies in the state under the short-term Agnipath scheme could be suspended or transferred to other states, claiming that support was not forthcoming from the local civil administration.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said all deputy commissioners have been directed to provide complete support to the Indian Army authorities for the recruitment of Agniveers in the state. Mann's statement on Twitter comes after a zonal recruitment officer of the Indian Army has reportedly written to the Punjab government saying that recruitment rallies in the state under the short-term Agnipath scheme could be suspended or transferred to other states, claiming that support was not forthcoming from the local civil administration.
“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 maximum number of candidates in to army from the state,” Mann wrote responding to a report of The Indian Express on the Indian Army's letter.
“We are constrained to bring to your kind attention that support from local civil administration is vacillating with no clear cut commitments. They are usually citing their inadequacies due to lack of directions from the state government at Chandigarh or lack of funds,” major general Sharad Bikram Singh, zonal recruitment officer, Jalandhar, said in his letter, dated September 8, to Punjab chief secretary VK Janjua and principal secretary, Employment Generation, Skill Development and Training, Kumar Rahul.
The major general also said that he would take up the matter with the army headquarters to either “hold in abeyance” all the recruitment rallies under Agnipath in the state, or alternatively, conduct the rallies in neighbouring states.
The Centre had launched the Agnipath scheme in June for the recruitment of youth 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.
