In Haryana, pick a peak for govt job

GO get it — how can you not like a government job? And if you are a ‘special category’, then there’s no stopping you. This steeple chase of sorts and ‘authorized shortcuts’ have taken spirited government job aspirants in Haryana to new heights — all the way up to Mt Everest. In recent years, Haryana has had at least six brilliant adventure sport lovers who have scaled the peak and landed good police jobs in the state. 

Santosh Yadav from Rewari was the first woman in the world to have climbed Everest in 1992, and also the following year. She rose to become an officer in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. Mamta Sodha was appointed a deputy superintendent of police and given Rs 21 lakh by the state government after she scaled the peak in 2010. That pushed others to follow suit. This year, two women from Haryana — Anita Kundu and Asha Singh — have scaled the peak.

For Kundu (29), a sub-inspector in Haryana Police, this was her second such success —  she first climbed Everest from the Nepal side in 2013. In 2015, she tried it from the China side, but bad weather forced her to return. This year, she pressed on from the same side and succeeded. Kundu is the country’s first woman to accomplish the feat from both sides.

Asha Singh (39), on the other hand, is wife of a sub-inspector. Her husband Ajay Singh Takhar is posted in Rewari and she is a staff nurse in a nearby Rajasthan’s town.

Kundu says she deserves a promotion to the DSP rank. “Mamta Sodha was directly recruited as a DSP after her Everest campaign in 2010. I and two other women were promoted from the constable rank to sub-inspector in 2014 (post Everest triumph),” says Kundu. Asha Singh says the government should have a uniform policy for recruitment/promotion for those who have scaled Everest. “If one becomes a DSP for the feat, others, too, must get the same treatment for the same accomplishment,” says Asha.

Demands for Kundu’s promotion are gaining ground. Former minister Sampat Singh and Haryana Association of Washington DC president Niraj Sihag have supported her. 

After the BJP government came to power, Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Anij Vij had asked the sports director to file a report as to how Sodha got the post and the prize money. “I am yet to get the report,” says Vij.

The “discrimination” has led adventure-sport achiever Ram Lal, who sold vegetables to eke out a living, to move the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In its judgment on June 1, 2016, the court directed the state government to provide Lal a DSP rank and offer a cash award of Rs 21 lakh — the same given to Mamta Sodha.

“Government officials told me that there were enough DSPs in the state, and that I could get a sub-inspector job instead,” says Lal. “I was desperate for a job, so, I accepted the offer. Had the government gone in appeal, it would have taken years for courts to decide.” Ram Lal is about to finish his training and hopes to get his formal posting soon.

Along with Lal, Raju Sindhu and Jasbir Singh are training for the same job after accomplishing a similar adventure feat. Kapil, another Everest climber is a constable, and has not got any government reward. 

“Our policy provides for jobs for sportspersons bringing medals for the country. Scaling Mt Everest doesn’t come under the category of sports, since there is no competition. The deviation from the policy by the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government has led to resentment. We are contemplating moving the Supreme Court challenging the HC order,” says Vij. 

Then there are Tashi and Nungshi, the twin Malik sisters from the state. But theirs is a different story. Daughters of Army officer Col Virendra Singh Malik (retired) from a Sonepat village, the two are Guinness record holders as first female twins to scale Everest in 2013.