The Congress Tuesday demanded that the 1.5 lakh youths selected in the military before the introduction of the Agnipath scheme be allowed to join immediately and the country apprised about the "more than Rs 100 crore collected in the name of recruitment fees".

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, Congress' Ex-Servicemen Department chief Col (retd) Rohit Chaudhry said these youths were selected in the Army, Air Force and Navy between 2019-22 with all formalities like exams and verification documents completed.

They were to get their joining letters but with the arrival of the Agnipath Scheme, their dreams were "shattered", he said.

Chaudhry said 7,000 youth kept waiting for their joining letters for the Air Force, but did not get. Similarly, 2,500 nursing assistants in the Army were not given the opportunity to serve the country, he said.

He said that Rs 250 was taken from those who had applied in various recruitment drives and this totalled upto Rs 100 crore.

"In the 100 recruitments of the Army and Air Force in which more than 1.5 lakh children were selected, they should be given joining immediately," he asserted.

"The country should be given an account of the money that has been collected in the name of recruitment fees which is more than Rs 100 crore," Chaudhry said.

These 1.5 lakh youths should also be given due respect and age relaxation, he stressed.

Chaudhry claimed that the Agnipath Scheme is "extremely dangerous and fatal" for the country's security system.

Chaudhry's press conference comes close on the heels of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's interaction with a group of youths who, he said, had come on foot from Bihar's Champaran to express their struggle.

In his post along with the video, Gandhi had said that under the guise of the Agnipath Yojana, "by cancelling the 'permanent recruitment' of the Army which was to run till 2019-21, the government ruined the dedication and dreams of countless hardworking and promising youths".

The Agnipath scheme, announced on June 14, 2022, provides for the recruitment of youngsters in the age bracket of 17-and-a-half to 21 years for only four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years.

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