Candidates selected in the 2016 Punjab Police constable recruitment drive staged a protest in Faridkot on Thursday, expressing outrage over the state government’s failure to issue their official joining orders nearly a decade after their selection.Around 300 aggrieved candidates gathered to highlight that despite successfully clearing the entire recruitment process 10 years ago, they are yet to be allowed to join duty.The protesters accused the state government of reneging on its promises and systematically ignoring their careers and livelihoods. They demanded immediate intervention, urging the government to issue their appointment letters and begin the joining process without any further delay.“We cleared the selection process a decade ago, yet we are forced onto the streets to fight for our basic rights,” one of the protesting candidates said during the demonstration.According to the protesters, the state government launched a recruitment drive in 2016 to fill 7,316 constable posts. Following the completion of the selection process, 5,581 candidates were initially issued joining letters. Subsequently, the AAP-led government issued appointment letters to another 500 candidates from the remaining pool of 1,350 selected applicants. However, 850 selected candidates are still awaiting appointments, they said.Protesters, including Ranjit Singh, Sukhdev Singh and Surjeet Singh, who travelled from districts such as Abohar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Hoshiarpur, staged a sit-in (dharna) outside the residence of Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Speaker of the Punjab Legislative Assembly, at Sandhwan village in Faridkot.Several candidates said they have now crossed the upper age limit for government jobs because of the prolonged delay. They added that during their years-long struggle, several candidates had even spent between 10 and 15 days in jail following previous demonstrations.The protesters said that among the remaining selected candidates, around 200 to 300 have been compelled to take up jobs in the private sector and other government departments to earn a livelihood, while about 500 continue to wait for their long-overdue appointments.