AKSSA demands immediate recruitment to vacant posts

President of All Karnataka State Students Association (AKSSA) Kanthakumar has urged the State government to immediately address large-scale vacancies in government departments and announce a clear recruitment schedule.

Addressing presspersons in Hubballi on Wednesday, he said that this is not the first time that the association has staged a protest. He added that demonstrations have been held earlier as well.

He stated that 2.94 lakh posts remain vacant across 43 government departments.

He said that the State government earlier promised to fill one lakh vacancies within a year of coming to power but even after three years no significant recruitment has taken place.

Instead of giving reasons only and delaying the process, the State government should release a clear calendar of recruitment events, he said.

Mr. Kanthakumar noted that although protests have been organised earlier, the State government did not take them seriously, forcing the association to organise a large-scale agitation.

Referring to the Finance Department’s approval for filling 56,000 posts, he demanded that the State government immediately publish the calendar of events for recruitment.

“If a decision is not taken within a week, student and various associations across the State, irrespective of political affiliations, will intensify the agitation, including taking out a foot march from Dharwad to Bengaluru,” he said.

He said that the organisation turned to the Opposition after being denied permission for the protest on Tuesday.

All Karnataka State Students Association will continue its struggle for recruitment to vacant posts, he added.

When asked why similar protests were not held when the previous government’s promise of providing two crore jobs remained pending, he said that the association submitted representations and raised the issue then as well. He also sought to justify the previous government’s shortcomings, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and the PSI examination paper leak as factors that affected the recruitment process.