Youth dies during spot recruitment drive of forest guards, 2 other candidates collapse

10-4-2008

Youth dies during spot recruitment drive of forest guards, 2 other candidates collapse

Express India By Sibte Hussain Bukhari

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Youth-dies-during-spot-recruitment-drive-of-forest-guards-2-other-candidates-collapse/294906/

Junagadh, April 9 Officials say the youth was possibly not healthy enough to meet the rigours of the test, deny any other similar incident

A candidate died on Wednesday during a spot recruitment drive being carried out by the Forest department here. According to reports, two more candidates reportedly became unconscious when they appeared for the physical fitness test and later had to be rushed to the hospital.

Close to 5,000 candidates had registered themselves for the direct recruitment of 51 posts of foresters. The drive was undertaken simultaneously at seven district headquarters on Wednesday.

In Junagadh, a total of 3,167 candidates including 351 women had assembled at the Police Training College grounds on Bilkha Road since early morning for the physical test. One youth, identified as Pravin Kambalia, 21, a resident of Amarapur village in Junagadh district collapsed while doing the 1,600-metres run. He was immediately taken to the hospital, where he died soon after.

Deputy Conservator of Forest (Gir west) B P Pati, who was supervising the drive along with other senior officials, confirmed the incident. He said the candidate had died due to dehydration. "The youth fell on the ground while taking the physical endurance test. He was immediately shifted to the Junagadh Civil Hospital but died during the treatment," said Pati.

He said it was a well-organised drive. An ambulance equipped with adequate medical facility including glucose, saline, oxygen and medical staff was deployed on the spot to meet any eventuality. He said the candidate who died was probably too weak and unhealthy to meet the rigours of the test.

He said the incident was an isolated one and unfortunate. He ruled out any other incident in which a candidate appearing for the physical test had collapsed.

But according to sources, two candidates identified as Dipak Rahulia (23) and Ranjit Sindhav (25), resident of Thana Galol and Ghughati village also reportedly collapsed during the physical fitness test.

Some candidates alleged they were also manhandled and roughed up by the forest officials. However, senior forest officials denied any such allegation and maintained that they hadn't received any complaint so far.