NC slams Kashmir government's recruitment policy

The main opposition National Conference (NC) in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday slammed the PDP-BJP coalition government over its new recruitment policy, terming it a "harsh mistake" by the alliance.

"This recruitment policy has been rejected by all political groups in Kashmir. Even the governor rejected this policy as it was going to become an ordinance," NC general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar said during a protest here against the employment policy.

The state government in April this year had announced a new 'contractual job policy' in which there would be recruitment under a 'fast-track' process, and new recruits would be paid only half of their salaries for seven years.

The recruits will be regularised only after putting in seven years of satisfactory service, the government had said.

A large number of NC activists on Saturday took part in a protest rally from the party headquarters Nawa-e-Subh to Regal Chowk.

The protesters raised slogans against the Peoples Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party (PDP-BJP) coalition and burned the PDP flag.

Sameer Ahmad Wani, a 27-year-old, who was watching the protest, said: "There is a lot of confusion about the new proposed recruitment policy. First, the government says only 15,000 youth from far-flung areas are to be recruited. Then they say it would be a permanent feature as the state's coffers run dry. The government should come clean on this issue."

Sagar said the job policy was "aimed at making backdoor appointments" as there was no merit or any kind of scrutiny in the proposed selection process.

Sagar, who was rural development minister in the Omar Abdullah government, said the NC-Congress alliance had a similar policy but revoked it after getting feedback from the people.

"(Then chief minister) Omar Abdullah scrapped that job policy. The current government is repeating that mistake and that too very harshly. They are playing with the future of our youth," he said.