Blind Persons Association protests in Shimla over backlog recruitment

Shimla, Jan 5 (PTI) The Himachal Pradesh Blind Persons Association on Monday staged a protest outside state secretariat in Shimla and blocked the Circular Road for few hours against non-fulfillment of the long-pending demand of backlog recruitments in government departments.

As a result, traffic movement between Sanjauli and Shimla from the direction of Chotta Shimla was affected, triggering massive traffic jams on both carriageways.

During the protest, blind persons raised slogans against the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led state government for not fulfilling their demands despite multiple assurances.

Rajesh Thakur, a member of the association who also participated in the protest, said for over 800 days, the visually impaired have been sitting in a dharna near Kalibari Temple demanding the state government conduct backlog recruitments on posts reserved for visually impaired candidates in many government departments.

However, the government continues to ignore their demands, he alleged.

Besides, the visually impaired have been holding a sit-in near the secretariat for over 70 days, and yet the government has turned a deaf ear to their demands, he added.

"Whenever we try to intensify our protest by blocking roads, the government assures us of talks but as soon as we retreat, no action is taken by the government and the situation remains the same," Thakur said.

He claimed thousands of posts reserved for the visually impaired are lying vacant in different government departments, but for some reason, the government doesn't seem interested in providing employment to the visually impaired.

Thakur warned of a mass movement if the state government continues to ignore the demands. PTI COR ARB ARB ARB