nagpur the first recruitment rally at nagpur under the agniveer scheme is estimated to have seen 60000 candidates turning up to try their luck for a job in the army the state government which foots the bill for the rallies has a sanctioned budget of rs15 per candidate for the eventfor the rally held in a district rs9 lakh is sanctioned by the state government with 60000 candidates attending this comes to rs15 per candidatethe district administration pays for the entire expenses which includes power internet bills and a number of other items the final amount comes to not less than three times the sanctioned amount the authorities have to get separate approval for the additional amount this leaves hardly any sum to be spent on facilities for the candidates like stay before the rally starts or food packets said sources involved in the recruitment processthe zilla sainik board zsb which coordinates between the army and district administration practically depends on the charity of ngos to provide food packets appeals were made but the response was bleak said sourcestoi had reported about the sad condition of candidates who had come from villages in gadchiroli gondia and bhandara districts reaching the site early candidates waited on the streets initially with even basic facilities like drinking water and toilets not available coming from poor backgrounds a number of candidates had very limited money making do with eating only bananas while waiting for the rally to begin at midnight following toi reports a couple of voluntary organizations had reached the site at mankapur stadium and provided food packets to the candidatestill last year only rs6 lakh used to be sanctioned for the rallies and the amount was hiked to rs9 lakh now this time the number of candidates had also gone up by over 10000 as compared to the last rally held at chandrapur in 2019 the current rally will last for 20 days as against 10 usually which also means higher expenditure a source explainedthe state government plays host for the army which holds the recruitment the entire cost is borne by the state through the zsb the major outgo is towards power bills which easily reaches rs30 lakh there has to be uninterrupted power so that the recruitment continues the rally is held at night because the temperature is low making it easy to run for the candidatesapart from this there has to be high speed internet connection because the entire process is computerized which again is a major cost even vehicles have to be hired the civil authorities also provide doctors sanitation works and state government staff to assist the army personnel in translating the candidates documents in marathi the mankapur stadium was given free of cost a source saidyet despite the fund crunch selected candidates are provided food as they have to stay longer this bill is footed by the state government a questionnaire to the army seeking details of the scope of facilities for candidates sent through the