Jitendra demands CAPF recruitment centre at Kathua

Minister of state for Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh on Friday met Union home minister Rajnath Singh and urged him to issue directions for setting up a separate recruitment centre for the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) at Kathua in view of a large number of applicants from the district.

Minister of state for Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh on Friday met Union home minister Rajnath Singh and urged him to issue directions for setting up a separate recruitment centre for the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) at Kathua in view of a large number of applicants from the district.

He also pointed out to the home minister that the present CAPF recruitment centre had been unjustifiably stationed at Leh where candidates from all over Jammu and Kashmir were compelled to go.

He also handed over to Rajnath a representation in this regard by Rajya Sabha member Shamsher Singh Manhas on behalf of the aspiring candidates.

Singh explained to the home minister that the recruitment of youth in central forces must be done locally and it was unusual to expect candidates from all over the state to come at a single spot for recruitment, he added.

Jitendra Singh said that a large number of youths who applied for recruitment belonged to Kathua belt falling in his parliamentary constituency. "They have physical attributes and mental aptitude to join the military and para-military forces. Professionally also, it is unfair for candidates belonging to the plains like Kathua to be tested for physical fitness at an high altitude areaof Leh to which they may not be acclimatized," he observed.

Rajnath Singh reportedly agreed with the observations put forward by Jitendra Singh and directed the officers concerned to "take due cognisance for correcting the anomaly at whatever level it has happened".