Members of Janasamanyara Vedike and Udyogakankshigala Horata Samiti will hold a protest rally in Dharwad on Monday. They want all vacant posts in the State government to be filled. The state government should declare a clear policy on filling these vacancies during the Winter Session in Belagavi, said committee convenor Yellappa Hegade on Sunday. He said, "It should announce a road map for recruitment in various departments. In order to press for this demand, we are taking out a protest rally in Dharwad." He also urged the Union government to fill its long-pending vacancies. According to Hegade, "The number of vacant posts in 43 departments of the State government is 2.84 lakh. The corresponding figure for the Union government is around 7.8 lakh. But none of these governments are showing any enthusiasm to fill the vacant posts. This has pushed millions of youths into despair. They need to end this policy of outsourcing or running understaffed departments." He added that over 25,000 youth will join the rally, starting from Shrinagar to the Deputy Commissioner's office in Dharwad. Other demands include relaxing the age limit for recruitment by five years, clearing confusion on internal reservation, issuing permits for youth to run Indira Canteens, reducing application fees, and publishing a fixed annual recruitment calendar. However, the Hubballi-Dharwad Police denied permission for the rally. Police Commissioner N. Shashikumar said, "Permission for the rally has been denied as the organisers have not followed the due process and that they are planning to disrupt life." He added, "Our officers have learnt through social media messages about the rally. We know the organisers planned a night-long protest and to block major junctions. Earlier, a similar rally disrupted traffic in Dharwad by closing Jubilee Circle for over five hours." "It threw life out of gear and caused severe inconvenience to the public. We have, therefore, denied permission to maintain law and order and ensure the public are not inconvenienced," said Shashikumar. Despite this, Mr. Hegade said, "This is a burning issue and uncertainty looms large over the career of lakhs of students. There is no question of withdrawing the rally. We will go ahead with it."