Even as educational institutes, multiplexes and some malls shut down to the curb spreading of the H1N1 virus, a large-scale army recruitment drive is on in the city, where hundreds of candidates from five districts, including Pune, have been congregating in the racecourse premises since August 10.

When asked about precautionary measures taken to check the spread of the virus, Brig Bhanwar Poonia, deputy director general, recruitment, Western zone, said, “There is no need to panic and take hasty decisions. This is a physical test going on, hence it is very obvious that unfit candidates will not appear for it. This rules out the chances of any flu or virus. Though we are not using masks, we are not stopping anybody from using them.”

The recruitment drive is on since August 10 and will go on till August 14. Each day in the five-day rally has been allotted to one district. The Mumbai Army Recruitment Office (ARO) is conducting the recruitment. An officer said that they presume that candidates coming for physical test must be fit given the fact that the test involves lot of strenuous physical activities. “Nobody will spend time and money coming all the way only to get eliminated,” he said.

The recruitment process requires the candidates to run, sit and exercise together and remain in close contact. However, ruling out danger, Brig Poonia said, “Pune city may be the epicentre of the deadly flu, but most of the candidates hail from semi-rural or rural areas such as Ahmednagar, Osmanabad, Latur and Beed. Moreover, we are dealing with civilians and cannot make masks mandatory for them. We could not have cancelled the rally after we announced the dates because many would have still come and as they come from not very strong financial background, this would have been very unfair to them.”

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