An Army spokesman said that about 800 aspirants appeared for recruitment into the Army on the first day of the recruitment rally, being organised by the Recruitment Zone Ambala. The rally is meant to fill vacancies of soldiers for general duty, nursing assistants as well as for technical trades.

The rally will continue up to August 27 and a schedule based on category has been drawn up. While only wards of serving personnel and ex-servicemen were permitted to appear today, Sikhs, Muslims and Gurkhas will be assessed tomorrow.

On August 26 it will be the turn of Jats and Rajputs, while August 27 is scheduled for candidates belonging to other castes and communities who are settled in this area.

While the administrative support for the rally was provided by BRO Ambala, staff conducting tests were deputed from BRO Rohtak and BRO Hamirpur.

Candidates were tested in physical fitness as well as examined medically. Those who qualify as per the prerequisite standards will appear for a written test on August 30. Candidates who were unable to qualify in any of the events were rejected on the spot.

There were instances of unsuccessful candidates appealing to officers present and also seeking clarifications, only to be firmly explained as to why they had failed.

The physical fitness tests required a candidate to complete a 1.6 kms run within six minutes and 20 seconds, do a minimum of six chin-ups apart from walking on a balance beam and leaping across a 9-foot wide ditch.

The spokesman added that a similar rally is simultaneously being conducted in Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh by BRO Mandi. BRO's in Hamirpur and Palampur have already carried out rallies in their respective areas, while BROs in Rohtak, Charkhi Dadri and Hisar are scheduled to carry out recruitment rallies in September. This would complete the recruitment schedule of the Ambala Zone for this quarter.

Recruitment rallies, as per the new guidelines enforced in April this year, are carried out on a quarterly basis and entire jurisdiction of the Recruiting Zone is to be covered.