Srinagar, Oct 16 (KNO): The protest by unemployed agriculture graduates of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST-K), Wadura, entered its 26th consecutive day on Friday, with demonstrators demanding regular recruitment, filling of vacant posts and reforms in the recruitment framework.
The graduates, according to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), have been seeking government intervention over what they say are long-pending recruitment concerns of agriculture professionals in Jammu and Kashmir.
Their demands include a clear recruitment calendar, regular recruitment drives and a review of SRO-443, which changed the recruitment structure for Junior Agriculture Extension Officer (JAEO) posts by making them promotional.
The graduates had earlier held a candlelight protest to draw attention to their demands, saying qualified agriculture professionals had been waiting years for recruitment opportunities.
“It has been 20 years since any recruitment advertisement was issued,” a protesting graduate had said.
The protesters have urged the Jammu and Kashmir government and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to intervene, hold talks with their representatives and take concrete steps to address their concerns. They have said their peaceful agitation will continue until their demands are addressed.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Javed Ahmad Dar has said the government is working to resolve the recruitment issue but an immediate solution is not possible because of litigation involving different categories of posts.
Dar said the matter had remained unresolved for years and the government had been working on it for several months. He added that groups involved in the litigation had also been taken on board in efforts to find a resolution.
“Litigation is the main reason. There are several categorised groups, be it gazetted or non-gazetted. We have been working on this for the last several months and are achieving success somehow,” Dar had said.
The minister said the government could not make commitments on matters that were not immediately feasible and that resolving the recruitment issue required due process—(KNO)