Harshraj Singh
Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, November 25
Following a fake viral message of campus interview by a reputed company, hundreds of ITI passouts from various districts of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan reached the Government Industrial Training Institute at Gill Road, Ludhiana, this morning.
The candidates, majority of them freshers, were a harried lot when they came to know that there was no such event scheduled for the day.
They said a message about the recruitment of fitters, welders, electricians and mechanics at a salary of Rs 22,700 per month had gone viral on WhatsApp and social media platforms.
The contact numbers mentioned in the message were switched off. Some candidates from other states had landed in Ludhiana last night, while many others travelled through the night.
Satish Kumar (21) from Kangra in Himachal said, “I got a message on WhatsApp about a test and interview. When I reached, I was shocked to see candidates leaving as no firm was conducting recruitments. I travelled through the night and could not sleep. Somebody has played a crude joke.”
“I came to Ludhiana hoping to get my first job, but the effort proved to be a sheer waste. Around 400 unemployed youths faced harassment,” said Ranjit Singh (20) from Hoshiarpur.
“I came from Ambala with great expectations. Whosoever spread false information on social media should not be spared,” said another youth.
Ludhiana ITI principal Jaswant Singh Bhattal said: “There seems to be a fake message. We had organised a job fair from November 19 to 22. We will file a complaint.”