Army aspirants struggle to get reports, fear missing chance

Raj Sadosh

Abohar, April 6

Notwithstanding the concerns expressed by the Centre over the second Covid surge in Punjab, the Health Department has failed to enhance the lab testing facilities despite instructions given by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.

Meanwhile, the Army has fixed a recruitment rally at Ferozepur, 117 km from Abohar, for which the youths have been told to reach by 5 am on Wednesday along with the mandatory latest Covid-negative report.

On Tuesday, dozens of youths were seen walking from the Civil Hospital to the Subdivisional Administrative Complex. They told SDM Jaspal Singh Brar that for the past three days, they had been visiting the hospital for tests and reports but to no avail. They feared that delay in tests or reports may deprive them of the opportunity to take part in the recruitment rally.

When contacted, the Civil Hospital officials said the test reports were awaited from the Faridkot lab, which was burdened with samples from three districts.

Notably, no additional arrangements have been made to meet the requirement arising due to the Army recruitment rally.

However, an official, trying to pacify the aspirants, said the SDM had taken note of the issue and pending tests and reports would be cleared by tonight.

Meanwhile, sources said the Rajasthan Government had set up two testing labs at Sriganganagar, 40 km from Abohar, one each in the district hospital and a private hospital, which provide the reports within six-seven hours. However, the Punjab Health Department has failed to upgrade the facilities in the border district of Fazilka. Even the vaccination facility is available to a few hundred persons in the districtdaily , while its average has increased to 8,500 in Sriganganagar.