Nishar Mohammed & Vikramaditya
Sri Vijaya Puram, September 7: The Andaman and Nicobar Pradesh Congress Committee has raised serious concerns over the ongoing recruitment process for Police Constables in the Islands, alleging discrepancies in the physical tests and claiming that certain local candidates may have been unfairly disqualified. The party also questioned the inclusion of a driving license requirement and raised concerns over employment opportunities for islanders.
Addressing a press conference, Mr. TSG Bhasker, Chairman of the Campaign Committee of the Andaman and Nicobar Pradesh Congress Committee, said the issue was directly linked to the future of the Islands’ youth. He said the party had approached the Director General of Police regarding the concerns but alleged that its representations had not received the response it expected.
Mr. Bhasker said the physical test for the recruitment includes running, high jump, long jump, chest measurement and height measurement. He particularly questioned the manner in which the high jump was being conducted, claiming that candidates had practiced different jumping techniques, including the scissors style, Fosbury Flop and other styles, but some candidates using the scissors technique were subsequently declared disqualified.
“If the recruitment is being conducted according to Olympic standards, this should have been clearly mentioned in the recruitment rules beforehand,” Mr. Bhasker said. He questioned why candidates who had already been marked as qualified during the physical test were subsequently being declared disqualified.
He also referred to a video which, according to him, shows a candidate completing the running event within the stipulated time but being declared disqualified. Mr. Bhasker said the matter should be properly verified using the official recordings maintained during the recruitment process. He argued that since the recruitment process is a public exercise, records relating to disputed cases should be examined whenever a candidate raises an objection.
Mr. Bhasker further alleged that there were inconsistencies in the manner in which candidates were being assessed and called for individual disputed cases to be reviewed. He said a candidate who had already received a qualification mark should not subsequently be disqualified without a clear explanation. If an error had occurred during the test, he suggested that the candidate should be given an opportunity to appear again after adequate preparation rather than being immediately excluded from the recruitment process.
The Congress leader also expressed concern over what he described as a growing preference for mainland candidates in government employment in the Islands. He claimed that thousands of applications had been received for the Police Constable recruitment and alleged that a significant number were from mainland applicants.
“Our island employment opportunities must be protected,” Mr. Bhasker said, arguing that the Islands have limited private-sector employment and major industrial opportunities compared to the mainland. He questioned how local youth would compete for government jobs if recruitment opportunities were increasingly opened to candidates from outside the Islands.
He also urged the Member of Parliament to take up the issue at the appropriate level and pursue the demand for greater protection of employment opportunities for islanders. Referring to other recent issues, including high airfares, he said the elected representative had a responsibility to raise matters affecting the interests of the local population.
Another major concern raised at the press conference was the requirement for a driving license in the recruitment process. Mr. Bhasker questioned how candidates from remote and inter-island areas would obtain a license when many islands and remote settlements have limited road infrastructure and little opportunity for driving practice.
He cited places such as Kamorta, Katchal, Kundul, Teressa and Long Island, saying that candidates from such areas may face practical difficulties in obtaining a driving license before recruitment. According to him, the license could instead be issued after selection and during police training, as had been done previously.
Bhasker urged the authorities to reconsider the recruitment rules and make the process more inclusive. He said recruitment rules should not unnecessarily exclude candidates from remote parts of the Islands who otherwise meet the eligibility and physical standards.
“We have to make the recruitment process inclusive. The effort should be to bring more eligible island youth into the system, rather than finding ways to exclude them,” he said.
He further announced that the party was considering legal action over the alleged discrepancies and said it would pursue the matter if the disputed cases were not properly reviewed.
The Congress leader also appealed to the police administration to examine the recruitment records, including the official video recordings of the physical tests, and provide appropriate clarification on cases where candidates were allegedly marked qualified and later disqualified.
