Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 17: Police foil the attempt by protesting shortlisted candidates for Jail Warden Post who were marching towards the Civil Secretariat for highlighting their grievances, here today.
The protesters had assembled near the Press Club Jammu from where they tried to take out a procession towards the Old City amidst raising of slogans. They were demanding release of the final selection list, which was pending for the last more than three years for no reasons.
As soon as these protesters tried to take out a march, the policemen deployed there did not allow them to proceed further. A minor scuffle between cops and protesters also took place forcing the former to use mild force.
Earlier, the protesting candidates were addressed by Ashwani Kumar who urged the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to personally look into the matter for getting the final selection list released. No recruitment has taken place in the Prison Department since 1995 and there are more than 2000 vacancies whereas the State Government was delaying the final selection of shortlisted candidates for the reasons best known to the concerned authorities, he added.
Pertinent to mention that 41182 youth had applied for the post of Jail Warden, advertised in the local dailies in 2005 and 1247 candidates were shortlisted for the interview, which was held in the month of September 2010. However, even after the lapse of more than three years, the final selection list has not yet been released by the concerned authorities.
The shortlisted candidates, who are protesting for the last 78 days, have threatened to further intensify their ongoing struggle if the Government does not release the final selection list.
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