BJP demands police recruitment physical fitness tests be held again

Many candidates had lodged complaints about the change in qualification benchmark from what was mentioned in notification, BJP State president Bandi Sanjay wrote in letter to CM

Bharatiya Janata Party Telangana unit president Bandi Sanjay Kumar has urged Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to look into the alleged irregularities in the conduct of physical fitness tests during the State police recruitment process on Friday.

In a letter to the Chief Minister, a copy of which was made available to the media, the BJP leader claimed that a large number of complaints were received from the candidates regarding the conduct of physical fitness tests and the selection of eligible candidates.

Nearly two lakh male and female candidates could not qualify as long jump and shotput tests were held in variance with what was mentioned in the notification. “In the long jump, while several States consider 3.8 metres as a cut-off distance, it has been unfairly fixed at 4 metres in Telangana,” he said.

The shotput test should also be held again following the old format, he said and observed that it was unfortunate that the government’s recruitment process for police posts has been creating controversies from the very beginning. He sought immediate and corrective action in the fitness tests held.

Mr. Sanjay Kumar, also Member of Parliament from Karimnagar, criticised the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) staging protests seeking linking the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MNREGS), with the agriculture and allied sectors stating that they had no clue about the Act itself.

“Fact is the State government has diverted ₹161 crore fund meant for MGNRES and has been caught red handed by the Centre which had sought a refund so this drama of protests is a cover up. The government owes an explanation to the farmers on why it has not taking up loan waivers, provided free fertilizer, financial assistance to the tenant farmers on the lines of ‘Rythu Bandhu’, farm insurance not being implemented here, farmers not getting the guaranteed minimum support price, etc.,” he said.