AGARTALA: Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government of writing “a dark chapter” in Tripura’s history of government employment, Tripura Pradesh Youth Congress president Neel Kamal Saha said on Wednesday that the state’s youth would be left to “return home empty handed” under the government’s revised recruitment policy, as his party staged a six hour sit in demonstration in Sonamura.
The protest, organised by the Sonamura district unit of the Youth Congress, was part of a three point charter of demands the party has been pressing across the state: restoration of the mandatory Permanent Resident of Tripura Certificate (PRTC) in government recruitment, immediate appointment of candidates who have cleared the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET 1 and TET 2), and an end to what the party called the government’s repeated tampering with recruitment rules.
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The demonstration comes months after the state government withdrew the PRTC requirement from its hiring policy, following a Tripura High Court case that held such a condition could only be imposed through Parliament and not by a state legislature. In its place, the government said candidates could qualify by producing certificates showing four to five years of schooling within Tripura.
Saha alleged the new policy was designed to benefit a section of government officers. Speaking exclusively to Ukhrul Times, Saha said, “This decision has been taken only to give an upper hand to the children of officers who have been working in various departments in Tripura for four or five years,” adding that local youth would be left to compete for what remained.
He further alleged that PRTC certificates had earlier been sold to candidates from outside the state for one lakh rupees each, and questioned whether the new school certificate system carried any real safeguard against similar misuse.
Saha said the Youth Congress had completed sit in demonstrations in seven of its nine organisational districts and would move toward a larger agitation at the state capital once the rest were finished. “This fight is to protect the coming generation and the teachers of tomorrow,” he said.
