Over 9,000 candidates from Visakhapatnam and Anakapalle divisions turned up on the first day of the Army Recruitment Rally being held at Indira Priyadarshini Stadium (GVMC stadium) in the city.
Despite making elaborate arrangements, police and district officials had a tough time controlling the crowd.
To bring them under control and avoid stampede, the police had to resort to mild lathi-charge. In the process, four candidates suffered minor injuries. At one point of time, the aspirants jumped the enclosures and went berserk in an attempt to obtain tokens. DRDA Project Director V. Satya Sai Srinivas, too, was seen wielding the baton to quell the aspirants.
It is learnt that the police have requested Army officials to arrange for at least 20 token counters going by the past experience. But only two counters have been set up.
This is attributed to be the reason for the chaos.
Moreover, many candidates were seen joining the enclosures after obtaining the token. “There appears to be a miscommunication on the part of the Army that a candidate who has obtained one token cannot get another. Many of the candidates who have taken a token for soldier general duty jumped the enclosures to get a token for soldier technical and for soldier clerical. The Army officials should have put indelible ink on the fingers or should have stamped the certificates to avoid such an incident. This is another cause for the rush,” said a senior police official.
Col. Pavan Sirohi said that the crowd swelled as the candidates did not follow rules. Despite a notification, candidates from other districts too had come to collect tokens.
“As per the plan, tokens are given a day before the actual test to candidates from specific mandals and sub-divisions. We have divided the dates for token collection and test mandal and sub-division-wise,” Col. Pavan Sirohi told The Hindu .
Candidates did not follow the rules. Despite a notification, candidates from other districts too have come to collect tokens.
Col. Pavan Sirohi
