Amid violent protests against 'Agnipath', Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's attempt at reassuring recruits by providing reservation in the state police failed to appeal to protestors. Violence, vandalism and arson have been raging in many states across the country.
Despite the CM’s promises about giving priority to 'Agniveers' in the Madhya Pradesh Police, violent protests were reported from Indore's Laxmibai Nagar Railway Station.
Ex-servicemen who have been protesting since April alleged that though there was 10 per cent reservation in the police for former Army personnel, the state government had abolished the policy, according to NDTV. Recently, there was recruitment for 6,000 constable vacancies at the MP Police. Six hundred posts were to be reserved for ex-servicemen but only six were selected.
"We have been getting the benefit of 10 per cent reservation since 1999 but the state government has stopped it," Anil Singh, a retired soldier, told NDTV. "We are requesting the state government to consider our request."
Some of the ex-servicemen took the issue to the MP High Court. Their petition said that in the MPPSC-19, the promises weren't kept and they weren't exempted from physical standard tests. Moreover, 10 per cent and 20 per cent of vacancies are reserved for ex-servicemen in Group 'C' and Group 'D' posts respectively.
"In the first petition, I had instructions that not a single candidate was selected from ex-servicemen," said lawyers for the petitioner Narinder Pal Singh Ruprah. "We also filed an RTI and got to know that only six candidates were selected from the entire Madhya Pradesh. While 3,000 ex-servicemen were to be selected, only six people were actually taken. I filed a petition saying that this is wrong."
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