12 MEN DIED AT AN EXCISE CONSTABLE RECRUITMENT EXAM. NOW, QUESTIONS EMERGE OVER WHETHER THERE WERE LAPSES

A change in assessment rules requiring candidates to run 10 km instead of 1.6 km, no assessment of fitness levels, excessive humidity, and the decision to conduct physical tests before a written exam are among the reasons cited by top officials for 12 deaths that took place during the recruitment drive for this year’s Jharkhand Excise Constable Competitive Examination.

The 12 died while undertaking the 10 km run, which is mandatory for the exam. The physical tests, which are being overseen by the Jharkhand Police since August 22, are the first step of the recruitment drive – qualifying candidates who complete the run in 60 minutes then go on to take a written test and a final medical test before being recruited.

The deceased, aged between 19 and 31, have been identified as Amresh Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Ajay Mahato, Arun Kumar and Deepak Kumar Pandu from Palamu; Manoj Kumar and Suraj Kumar Verma from Hazaribagh; Vikas Linda from Sahibganj, and Sumit Yadav from Giridih. The details of three others have not been disclosed so far. A total of 1.87 lakh candidates appeared for the physical tests until September 2, of which 1.17 lakh qualified for the next round.

According to government sources, this is the first time that the recruitment drive has been held since Jharkhand was formed in 2000, although it was initiated in 2008 as well as in 2019 but was never completed.

The state’s Hemant Soren government has ordered an inquiry into the exercise, which had been paused and will now resume on September 9. A report of this inquiry is still awaited.

On its part, the state government claims that the tests were conducted according to the procedure laid down by the law. The police maintain that “many candidates died due to heart attacks and this can happen due to various reasons”.

“Some candidates met with sudden death, some died before reaching the hospitals and some after being admitted. The postmortem has been done, and the remaining process in the FSL (tests of viscera samples) are being done. The final report will take time,” Jharkhand’s Additional DG (Headquarter) R K Mallick said, adding that candidates have now been advised to undergo medical checkup before the physical assessment.

Government sources said the root of the problem could lie in a change in assessment rules effected in 2016. Through the Jharkhand’s Excise Department’s notification published August 1, 2016, the then government amended the Jharkhand Excise Constable Cadre (Recruitment and Service Conditions) Rules, 2013, which would require a candidate to run 1.6 km – or one mile – in six minutes.

Made on the lines of the Jharkhand State Police Recruitment Rules (Recruitment Method for Police Service), 2014, the amended rules meant that men have to run 10 km and women five km in 60 minutes. For context, the Indian Army’s Agniveer policy requires candidates to run 1.6 km in under six minutes.

According to sources, the reason for the change in assessment remains unclear.

Sources also said there could be another factor that played a role -- a change in the order of the assessment tests, made under the current Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led dispensation. According to a top source, this change meant that physical tests were held before the written examination, which meant more candidates competed.

“The current government wants to create a buzz that recruitment is happening and more the number (of candidates), the better the optics,” the source said.

Asked about the change of assessment rules, Excise Department Secretary Manoj Kumar said that the 2016 rules made the 10 km run mandatory for excise constables “at par with the police recruitment rules because the work of both the constables is the same”.

Asked why the physical assessment test came before the written exam, he said: “There was no point in conducting written tests of all the candidates because more than the intelligence, we needed physical fitness”.

‘Never practised a 10 km run’

Factors such as the lack of basic health-checks to screen candidate fitness levels, and the high humidity could also have played a part, sources said. The tests were conducted between 6 am and noon, and, according to local authorities, several candidates had to be taken to the hospital after their oxygen levels plummeted.

One woman aspirant from Godda who lost her brother during the drive in Palamu said she saw many people faint during the test. “My brother Pradeep Kumar died as he never practised for a 10 km run. The women were made to run until 9 am, and then the men were asked to, which went on till afternoon,” she said.

According to Utpal Kant, his 31-year-old brother Arun Kumar passed out after completing the run under 60 minutes and was referred to a local hospital.

“He regained consciousness on August 29, but his condition declined and a plasma transfusion was made. Later, he was declared dead,” he said.

Charan Yadav, whose 19-year-old brother Sumit Yadav was one of those who died, said his brother would run 10 km every morning for eight months to practise for the tests. “On the day of the assessment, he completed his 10 km run around 10 am and seemed stable after that. But when he fainted later, the local hospital referred him to one in Dhanbad, where he was declared dead,” he said. He too is scheduled to take the physical assessment test. “My brother died, and our heart is broken. Will my parents allow me to go?”

For now, police have registered a case of unnatural death. But the deaths have sparked a political wrangling between the ruling JMM government and the Opposition.

In his post on X on September 2, Soren promised a change of recruitment rules. But he also wondered if anything had changed in terms of public health in the last three-four years. The BJP accused the state government of “flouting rules” by changing the order of assessment tests.

“The rules previously clearly mentioned that before a physical assessment, there needs to be a written examination and a medical checkup,” Jharkhand’s BJP chief Babulal Marandi said.

BJP’s Jharkhand election in charge Himanta Biswa Sarma said the government held the tests without ensuring “the necessary arrangements”.

“The government could have completed the physical test from October to March when the weather is good. Instead, it was conducted in heat and humidity,” he said.

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2024-09-07T12:41:50Z dg43tfdfdgfd