NEW DELHI, April 10: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today demanded that the population-based quota system of recruitment to the defence forces should be immediately abolished and merit made the sole criterion instead.Making a forceful plea in this direction, Badal urged Defence Minister George Fernandes to intervene personally to get this long standing grievance of Punjab resolved in ``national interest''.Badal, who met Fernandes here this morning, said that in sensitive matters like the country's defence demand, merit alone should be the consideration. The quota permit system has ``a legacy of the unjust policies of successive Congress regimes which played havoc with national interests on all fronts,'' the Punjab chief minister said.The chief minister also said the quota system now prevalent in the Army was not followed in any of the Central services where appointments were made on well established norms, irrespective of any regional consideration whatsoever.Going on to congratulateFernandes on his reported statement regarding doubling the quota of the North-Eastern region in the armed forces, Badal said he agreed with the minister's viewpoint that the best guarantee for the nation's security lay in greater participation of all regions.The chief minister demanded the setting up of an ordinance factory, an Army training institute and a military school in Punjab. He said the 300th anniversary of the birth of Khalsa next year would be an appropriate occasion for conceding these demands as Khalsa's name was synonymous with the defence of the country.Badal said major steps needed to be taken to make a career in defence attractive. He added that the Centre must take immediate steps for the welfare and rehabilitation of ex-servicemen, especially as the retirement age in the defence services was the lowest.Badal also called for strengthening roads on the Indo-Pak border, especially in the Punjab segment to check infiltration and smuggling. He said that lighting of the entire borderbelt through unmanned solar system should be undertaken immediately to check infiltration and smuggling.Badal also called on Home Minister L K Advani at his North Block office here before flying back to Chandigarh. Badal apprised the home minister about the satisfactory law and order situation in Punjab. He was accompanied by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M L Khurana.
