Preparatory works yet to be completed by PHQ
Even notice to invite applications not issued till date
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 2: State Government has failed to start recruitment for two border battalions which were sanctioned by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs a year back thereby leading to resentment among thousands of youth of the border areas. The intensity of dilly-dallying approach can be gauged from the fact that even preparatory works have not been completed by the Police Headquarters till date.
The proposal for raising two border battalions of Jammu and Kashmir Police comprising of 2014 posts of various categories was formulated by the Home Department in consultation with the Police Headquarters and with the approval of the competent authority the same was forwarded to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs vide communication dated January 4, 2018 for consideration.
The Ministry of Home Affairs vide communication dated March 8, 2018, while conveying sanction for raising of two border battalions, laid down criteria conditions, which included that the eligibility criteria for the candidates should be clearly outlined while notifying the vacancies. It was further conveyed that the guidelines in connection with selection of candidates for these battalions must be got approved from the MHA.
In the meanwhile, State Administrative Council (SAC) headed by Governor vide Decision No.1/1/2018 dated June 28, 2018 accorded sanction to the raising of two border battalions—one each for Jammu and Kashmir divisions along with creation of 2014 posts of various ranks mentioning that the decision will benefit large number of youth residing near the International Border and Line of Control.
It was also mentioned in the SAC decision that 1402 posts of constables would be filled from amongst the youth residing within 0 to 10 kilometre from the International Border and Line of Control while as remaining posts will be filled by recruitment from across the State. It was explicitly mentioned in the SAC decision that recruitment process shall be completed within a period of six months.
However, Government has failed to start recruitment process although one year has lapsed since the nod of the Ministry of Home Affairs, official sources told EXCELSIOR, adding “the intensity of the dilly-dallying approach can be gauged from the fact that neither notice inviting applications has been issued nor independent vendor/firm for conduct of transparent recruitment process selected till date”.
They disclosed that e-Notice Inviting Tenders were issued on February 9, 2019 only and three vendors/firms participated in the same following which one of them was short-listed after considering all aspects. However, final order about selection of agency has not been issued so far, sources added.
Even after missing the deadline fixed by the State Administrative Council the Government doesn’t know when the process of raising two battalions would be completed, they said, adding “inviting applications, scrutiny of the same, conduct of the physical endurance test and then written test is a long drawn process as such no time-frame can be specified for the completion of entire exercise”.
“Due to dilly-dallying approach, there is resentment among the youth of the border areas as they were hopeful of prompt action on the part of concerned authorities of the State after MHA’s nod to the raising of battalions”, sources said, adding “level of annoyance is much more among those youth who have crossed the upper age limit during the past one year or going to cross within next one month”.
It is pertinent to mention here that Ministry of Home Affairs has made it clear that recruitment for the posts should be strictly from the youth living in the areas of 0-10 kilometres from International Border, Line of Control and Line of Actual Control and should also be equally divided amongst the 10 border districts of J&K.
As far as recruitment for the posts from Leh and Kargil is concerned, the MHA has allowed the State Government to relax the criteria suitably if sufficient number of youths are not available from 0 to 10 kilometres of LAC/LoC.
The SAC has already made it clear that funds to the tune of Rs 162 crore shall be made available for creating the requisite infrastructure for these battalions and another Rs 36 crore shall be required annually for meeting the recurring expenses towards salary etc.
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