Upcoming exams to be under anti-copying ordinance, says Uttarakhand CM Dhami

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday met with the delegation of the unemployed youth organization and said that the government will conduct all upcoming exams under an anti-copying ordinance of the state.

During the discussion, the CM said that the country's most stringent anti-copying law had been implemented in the state of Uttarakhand and all preparations have been completed to make the Patwari/Lekhpal recruitment examination to be held tomorrow peaceful, fair and copy-free.

"We have made the strictest law possible (to check paper leaks). After this law is implemented, those who will be caught cheating will get 10 years imprisonment and their assets will be seized. We want to assure that all the exams will be conducted in a fair and transparent manner," the CM said.

He further added that a free transport facility has been made available to the candidates to reach the examination centre.

"My best wishes for the bright future of all the candidates appearing in tomorrow's examination," the CM said.

On Thursday, youth from the Berozgar Sangh, an outfit of jobless persons in the state, staged a protest at the main Rajpur Road of Dehradun, demanding a CBI inquiry into irregularities in recruitment.

The protests took a violent turn after the agitators came to blows with police personnel who had arrived at the scene to enforce the order.

According to police, the protestors pelted stones at them and damaged their vehicles during the demonstration.

The police arrested 13 protesters, including the president of Berozgar Sangh, Bobby Panwar, in connection with alleged stone pelting during the demonstration.

A total of 15 policemen were also injured in the alleged stone-pelting incident.

"The students were only demanding a robust exam system. The BJP government is creating no employment opportunities and on top of this, we now have the paper leaks, leading to the cancellation of exams. When students erupted in protest, they were baton-charged. This is unfortunate. The CM must speak with the protesting jobless youths," veteran Congress leader and former CM Harish Rawat told reporters on Friday.

Dhami, meanwhile, directed the chief secretary to conduct a detailed magisterial inquiry into the law-and-order situation during the demonstration and also probe the alleged lathi charge.

After checking all the facts and circumstances of the incident, a detailed inquiry report will be submitted to the government, sources said.

"The Chief Minister has directed the chief secretary to get a detailed magisterial inquiry into the law and order situation and the entire sequence of events leading to the lathi charge," the CM office said.

"After checking all the facts and circumstances, the inquiry officer will make a detailed inquiry report and send it to the government," it added.

( With inputs from ANI )