Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on February 18 made it clear that anyone found involved in the Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board (APSSB) fiasco will not be spared and punished as per relevant rules and law.
Speaking at a workshop on ‘Pre-Panchayat Election Awareness Campaign’ in Itanagar, the CM expressed surprise on the audacity of those involved despite his repeated warnings against corruption.
“For the last three years I have been repeating – on every available platform – that corruption in any form will not be tolerated and those found guilty, irrespective of power and position, will not be spared. I am literally surprised that despite the repeated warnings people still have the courage to be corrupt,” he exclaimed.
Khandu said that SSB was constituted to provide transparent, fair and equal playing ground for the unemployed youth of the state to join government jobs at the lower levels. He said SSB was his vision to root out corruption in recruitment of lower level jobs, which was prevalent when recruitments were done independently by the departments.
“It breaks my heart to see my vision being shattered by few individuals. I reiterate nobody found involved – be it anybody – will be spared,” Khandu said.
The CM informed that the government has taken suo-moto cognizance of the fiasco and immediately registered a case under relevant sections and handed it over to the Special Investigation Cell (SIC).
“Within a day of investigation, SIC has got several leads and I assure to the people of Arunachal Pradesh that soon the guilty will be in the dragnet of law,” he revealed.
Taking opportune moment of the presence of government officials – from the top to lower levels – Khandu appealed them to stick to rules and discharge their duties in a fair, transparent and impartial manner. He regretted that despite wholehearted efforts ‘leakages’ are still happening in the system and urged government employees to change the system from within.
The APSSB came under sharp criticism after optical mark recognition (OMR) sheet of a candidate which was purportedly left blank went viral on social media, soon after the results of the examination for the Lower Divisional Clerk (LDC), Junior Secretariat Assistant (JSA) and other posts were published by the Board in its website on February 14.
Hundreds of aspirants took out a protest march here on Monday, demanding Board’s chairman and controller of examination’s resignation, alleging their failure to conduct the exams properly.
