Shimla: Government job aspirants, asking the state government to declare the results of the various government job recruitment exams, started a hunger strike in Shimla on Monday. These youth have declared that they will continue their strike until their demands are fulfilled.
They have also decided to start a Nyay yatra to Delhi from Shimla to meet Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge, asking him to tell the Congress government in the state to declare results. Scores of youth who have appeared in various examinations are waiting for results to be declared for over four years now.
The results of the examination for recruiting junior office assistants in information technology (JOAIT) have not been published yet, even after the directions of the Supreme Court of India in this regard. The job aspirants for the various posts want Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to intervene in the matter, providing justice to protesters.
These protesters are reminding Priyanka Gandhi about her promise during the election that the interests of job aspirants will be protected once a Congress government is elected to power. "We have been waiting for our results for the past four years. We have been sitting on a chain hunger strike for the past three days but nobody is listening to our demands. We have started a hunger strike here. We appeared and qualified for the test four years ago and are waiting for recruitment," Saurabh Sharma, a job aspirant, told ANI.
"Rahul Gandhi is doing the Nyay Yatra for youth. We elected the Congress government in the state and I want to ask Rahul Gandhi, who is entering Manipur, what his Congress government has done in Himachal Pradesh for youth. These political parties come here during the elections and don't care for youth after they win elections. We shall do a Vidhansabha Gherao protest during the budget session and if we don't get notification before Loksabha elections, they will have to face the consequences," he added.
These youth have warned that they will come with their parents if their recruitment process is not started. They are disappointed because, even after they have qualified for the first stage of examinations, their recruitment process has not started.
"We will come with our parents to protest and do a hunger strike. We just want the government notification assuring us to declare our results.In JOIT 817, there are 2,27,000 youth and there are 903 post codes where 88,000 youth appeared and in JOIT 939, there are 300 posts and 167287 youth appeared. In many such cases, we cleared the exams," said another protester.
The Himachal Pradesh government scrapped the Staff Selection Commission after irregularities and paper leak cases were reported in December 2022. Later, the government shifted all powers and the declaration of examinations and recruitment processes to the State Service Selection Commission and thousands of job seekers who have appeared in different examinations are demanding to declare their results.
—ANI