Chandigarh/New Delhi, Jul 27 (PTI) Congress MPs from Punjab protested at Parliament, while other Opposition parties sought the resignation of Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains over the unravelling of a cheating racket in an exam to recruit pharmacy officers. MPs Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Dr Amar Singh, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, and Sher Singh Ghubaya protested outside Parliament, seeking accountability from the AAP government.
The Akali Dal demanded an impartial probe into the matter. On July 19, Punjab Police dismantled a highly sophisticated, inter-state cheating racket that was active during Sunday’s pharmacy officer exam. The police arrested seven key conspirators and detained 28 candidates in connection with the matter. Twenty-seven battery-operated wireless cheating devices were recovered in the process. Among the gadgets seized were pen cameras and real-time dictation tools. Nearly 7,000 candidates appeared for 454 pharmacy officer posts across 25 exam centres in Faridkot, Kotkapura, and Ferozepur, in an exam conducted by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences on behalf of the state Health and Family Welfare Department. Police investigation indicated that there was no leak of paper and no involvement of any official authority. Opposition parties also alleged that papers were leaked in Punjab in Naib Tehsildar exam, the PSEB class 12 English exam, the Agriculture Development Officers exam, and the Subordinate Services Selection Board Group B Officers exam. On Sunday, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann asserted that there has not been a single case of paper leak of a competitive exam in the four-and-a-half years of the AAP rule in the state. At the protest in Delhi, Warring, the Punjab Congress president, accused Mann of lying by claiming that no paper was leaked under his watch. “Six paper leaks have taken place during the last four and a half years, and still the chief minister had the audacity to deny it all,” alleged Warring. He also asked Mann if the paper leaks had not taken place, then why the FIRs were filed. Warring said that about five lakh students and job aspirants were affected by the paper leaks that took place in Punjab. “If Mann or his leaders from Delhi believe that they can brush aside the paper leaks under the carpet, they are mistaken”, he said. Shiromani Akali Dal leader and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal alleged that the AAP government is covering up the matter. “The truth is that the paper was leaked in advance. As can be seen in the FIR, no scanner pen was seized from the centre. The FIR only lists the seizure of Bluetooth devices along with a headphone. This means the paper was leaked in advance and answers were being relayed to students through Bluetooth devices,” she alleged. “A sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court should be entrusted with the responsibility of probing the case and bringing all the guilty to book,” demanded the parliamentarian as she called for the immediate resignation of Bains. “The schools where the pharmacy officer paper was held are under Bains. School teachers who were on invigilating duty are also under him,” Kaur said.
“He cannot escape responsibility by trying to shift the blame to someone else … He has a lot to hide. Once he puts in his paper, the truth in the case will start to unravel,” she added. Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh hit out at the opposition parties, accusing them of spreading propaganda against the AAP government because they have no other issues to raise. “Not a single exam paper leaked in the past four years,” he said, asserting Mann’s claim. PTI CHS VN VN
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