MLA Achumbemo Kikon questions INR 300 police recruitment exam fee in Nagaland Assembly; Patton denies rumoured trainee charges.
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KOHIMA — Naga People’s Front (NPF) legislator Achumbemo Kikon on Thursday questioned the collection of INR 300 as examination fee from candidates appearing for the ongoing police constable recruitment, saying the amount could burden applicants from economically weaker backgrounds.
Raising the issue during Question Hour on the last day of the first phase of the eighth session of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly, Kikon recalled that he had earlier expressed concern over the fee charged per applicant.
“Our people are very poor. If you collect INR 300 per candidate, it is a huge amount for villagers and poor people,” he said.
According to the legislator, around 32,000 candidates have applied for 1,176 constable vacancies. At INR 300 per applicant, he estimated that nearly INR 96 lakh may have been collected.
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Kikon said that the cost of conducting the examination—such as printing stationeries and other arrangements—would not require such a large amount.
He suggested that even with higher estimates, the expenditure might range between INR 20 lakh and INR 40 lakh.
The MLA also said that he had received information that candidates who qualify for training might be asked to pay an additional amount, reportedly around INR 2,000 to INR 3,000, to join the training centre.
“If such collections are there again, I think that will be too much,” he said, adding that the government should instead utilise the funds already collected from examination fees if there are financial constraints.
Responding to the concern, Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Yanthungo Patton said that the INR 300 fee was not collected by the Police department alone and maintained that other departments follow a similar practice.
On the alleged proposal to collect fee from candidates who qualify for training, Patton said that he had also heard about the rumour but was unaware of any official decision.
“I also heard about the collection which other MLAs were asking me whether it is true or not — that the department is going to collect INR 2,500 per candidate who has qualified for training. I said I don’t know anything about such,” he stated.
Patton added that if any such proposal reaches him for approval, he would not allow it.
“If that file comes to me, I will put it in cold storage till those trainees complete their training. I will not allow that,” he said.
The deputy chief minister also urged legislators and the public to report any unauthorised collections.
“If you hear of any such cases, identify who is collecting and inform us immediately. That particular officer will be suspended,” he added.