RANCHI: As the death toll reached 12 on Monday during the excise constable recruitment drive in Jharkhand, Chief Minister Hemant Soren instructed officials to postpone the recruitment process for the next three days as a precautionary measure and also prohibited any race taking place after 9 a.m.
“While directing an immediate review of the previous government’s recruitment rules, I have also mandated changes for all future similar recruitments. Officials have been instructed to propose immediate relief for the victims and their families,” Hemant Soren posted.
The opposition BJP has demanded Rs 50 lakh in compensation and a job for the nearest kin of the deceased candidates. Assam Chief Minister and co-election in-charge of Jharkhand, Himanta Biswa Sarma, announced on Monday that the BJP would personally visit the families of each deceased candidate and provide Rs 1 lakh in compensation.
“Meanwhile, the BJP will provide Rs 1 lakh in compensation to the family members of the deceased aspirants for excise constables,” said Sarma. He also promised that the BJP would provide Rs 50 lakh in compensation to each deceased candidate’s family if the BJP government comes to power, should the current government fail to do so.
Sarma also urged the JMM-led alliance government to halt the recruitment drive for at least 15 days until weather conditions improve in the region. He criticised the government for attempting to link the deaths to COVID-19 and its vaccine, pointing out that similar recruitment drives for police and military personnel were conducted nationwide without any reported deaths.
“It is truly shameful for the Soren government to evade responsibility by attributing these deaths to COVID-19. The BJP strongly condemns this incident and demands that the state postpones the recruitment drive until September 15,” he said.