Uttarakhand: Unemployed youth association representatives meet CM Dhami, hails new anti-copying law

DEHRADUN: Representatives of an association of unemployed youths met Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami at his official residence here on Saturday and thanked him for introducing a strict anti-copying law in Uttarakhand. The meeting came days after a protest by youths against recruitment examination paper leaks turned violent.

The representative requested the chief minister to allow some association members against whom proceedings are underway under different sections of the IPC following Thursday's violent protests to appear in the examination scheduled for Sunday for the recruitment of lekhpals.

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The chief minister has directed the Director General of Police to make arrangements for taking the candidates to their examination centres and bringing them back for free. An ordinance to prevent use of unfair means in recruitment examinations has come into force, Dhami said. The process of conducting recruitment examinations is also being sped up, he said.

More vacancies will soon be advertised so that the youths get more employment opportunities, he said. A calendar of the forthcoming recruitment examinations has already been issued, the chief minister said. The new anti-copying law has provisions for stern punishment to those indulging in or facilitating use of unfair means in competitive examinations, he said and exhorted the youth to prepare hard for the examinations ahead.

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After his meeting with the representatives of the association of unemployed youths, the chief minister said the talks with them were positive. "Our government is committed to conduct fair and cheating-free recruitment examinations in a transparent way. The country's sternest anti-copying law has come into force. Arrangements have been made to conduct tomorrow's examination for the recruitment of patwaris and lekhpals in a fair and transparent way," he said.

A protest by youths against recruitment examination paper leaks in Uttarakhand turned violent when the protestors clashed with police personnel and hurled stones at them in Dehradun on Thursday. The police resorted to a lathicharge to disperse the protestors. Some youths were injured in police action.