The students’ union gheraoed Chhattisgarh agriculture minister’s house to press demand
Team News Riveting
Raipur, July 26
Activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) today gheraoed the residence of Chhattisgarh Agriculture Minister Ravindra Choubey to press their demand of filling the vacant posts.
A large number of students struck at the official residence of the Minister in Shankar Nagar at around 8 am. They wanted to meet the Minister but reportedly failed. The students wanted to submit a memorandum to the Agriculture Minister demanding to start the pending recruitment process of the agricultural students in the state.
Sandeep Tandav, National Co-convener of ABVP looking after agricultural affairs, said that since the last 4 years, there had been no recruitment for the posts of Rural Agricultural Extension Officer, Professor, Horticulture Officer, Sericulture Officer. “Thousands of students are waiting but the state government is reluctant to conduct the examination for recruitment,” he said.
ABVP Raipur Mahanagar Secretary Tilak Nath Poddar said that the state government had blindly opened agriculture colleges without any feasibility across the state but failed to take care of employment to agricultural students. “We will continue to fight for the rights of the students,” Poddar said.
He added that after the Congress government came to power in the state in December 2018, only 197 agricultural teachers have been recruited against the vacant posts of over 500. No appointment has been made in the position of Agriculture Officer, Horticulture and Silk Officer between 2017 and 2022.
While new agricultural colleges are opened, no post is being sanctioned for the students of agriculture graduate, post graduate and Ph.D. At present, about 2000-2500 posts are lying vacant while the government has failed to address the grievances of agriculture students, the ABVP leaders said.