Editor,
I am one of the candidates for the PST and the PET for recruitment for the posts of HC (RT), HC (Tel) and others in the Arunachal Pradesh Police at the Police Training Centre (PTC) in Banderdewa.
Like many of the applicants, I too applied for the post(s) for the first time in 2018 when they had been advertised (via No PHQ/PER-113/14, dated 29 March, 2018), and in 2020 (via Advt No 09/2020, dated 21 January, 2020), when it had been re-advertised.
But, to the dismay of many applicants, the ground or the track for the physical efficiency test (PET) was in a terrible condition, which made it not viable to conduct the PET events, especially the long jump event, on 18 June, 2024, when, due to incessant rain, even the road between Nirjuli and Banderdewa had been washed away. Yet the authorities assigned for the recruitment insisted that we prove ourselves in the ankle-length mud.
The attitude of the authorities was to conduct the PET and the PST by hook or by crook, at the cost of the dreams of the applicants. The PET was more of a mode to reject the candidates than to select them for the jobs by undermining the basic principle of justice for all.
Though the authorities can clarify that the condition was the same for all, they must realise that, had the recruitment test been conducted in 2018 or 2020, the applicants could have shown more agility and fitness due to the age factor.
The applicants are waiting for a period of at least four years (six years to be precise), but they were forced to prove their capabilities on the ground or track which was not conducive for many of them due to slippery and watery mud all over the long jump track, without any concession in terms of the length to be jumped, in the adverse weather. And some of the applicants from far-flung regions of the state could not even reach the recruitment test due to road blockages and other reasons.
The applicants waited for the recruitment drive for such a long time, and it is now a matter of life and death and the last ray of hope for its existence. But the authorities just shattered the aspirations and hopes of many applicants by conducting the PST and the PET in this monsoon season, undermining the emotional damage it could cause not only to the applicants but also to the families who are still hoping to see their offspring, spouses, and relatives get a government job and look after them.
Don’t the applicants deserve a fair chance as a redressal or compensation for waiting so long?
The applicants are still anticipating justice and a fair chance from the authorities concerned.
Yiri Kamcham,
Kamcham,
Lower Siang