Job aspirants left in lurch with abolition of recruitment board

MUKTSAR : Lakhs of government job aspirants in Punjab claim to have been left in the lurch with the state government’s decision, last week, to abolish the 11-member Subordinate Service Selection Board (SSSB) without providing an alternative mechanism to recruit junior officials in various state government departments.

The decision will hit the recruitment process for 2,000 posts of clerks, stenotypists, excise inspectors and election kanungos. In 2016, the board had announced 1,759 posts of clerks; in 2017, 30 posts of election kanungos were announced. Students, who had been taking private coaching for exams that the SSSB had announced in 2016-17 before the assembly polls, claim that the decision wastes their hard work and was a shocker to them.

Of the posts announced, only a few could be filled before the poll code of conduct kicked in.

Harpreet Singh, an aspirant for the post of clerk, said, “I had applied for post of clerk in 2016 and had been practising in a particular font (Assess); in 2017, it was announced that the test will be conducted in the Ravi font. Now, we know that the board has been abolished.”

He added, “Will the government recruit us? Should we practice typing now?” Incidentally, the website of the SSSB is still up and running.

Another job aspirant Amandeep Kaur said, “I have been paying Rs 1,200 per month to learn typing. With such decisions, the government is making fun of unemployed youth.”

Gurmeet Singh Daduwal, the chairman of the board, that the previous SAD-BJP government had appointed said, “I don’t want to comment. It is up to the government to plan for recruitment.”

MOVE TO ABOLISH SUBORDINATE SERVICE SELECTION BOARD WILL HIT RECRUITMENT FOR 2,000 POSTS