Rohtak, Nov 5 — Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday said Agniveers should be directly regularised without imposing any condition on them.
Granting them an extension of service for just two years is an insult to their dignity. The Leader of Opposition was responding to media queries at his residence here.
He said the Congress had been opposing the Agnipath scheme from day one.
“Our clear stand is that this scheme is neither in the interest of the country nor in the interest of the Army. Even several former Army officers had openly spoken out against it. Now, the government has finally been forced to acknowledge this and, following widespread opposition, has announced the addition of some new provisions to the scheme,” he said.
However, the Congress leader said, the manner in which the government is granting Agniveers an additional service extension of just two years and subsequently imposing conditions for their regularisation is not right.
“What additional criteria can be required from a young person who has served in the Army for six years? Such a person is fully prepared to continue serving in the Army regularly. Then why are they not being recruited as regular soldiers, as was the practice earlier?”
The two-time Chief Minister advocated that every soldier joining the Army should be provided with a full service tenure, permanent employment, complete salary, allowances, facilities and pension.
Replying to a question regarding guest teachers, Hooda said that they should be regularised with immediate effect.
“The policy formulated by the Congress government for regularising contractual employees has itself been upheld by both the High Court and the Supreme Court. Under the same policy, the court has also directed the regularisation of guest teachers. However, the BJP is going back on its promises to teachers.”
“This is the same BJP that, in 2014, secured votes from thousands of families of guest teachers by promising to regularise them. But after coming to power, the BJP forgot this promise, just like all its other promises,” he added.