THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informing Opposition leader V D Satheesan in the assembly that the government will not extend the validity 493 PSC rank lists, aspirants of government jobs who figured on the list are a dejected lot. The Last Grade Servants (various) post aspirants on the list who had staged a protest in front of the Secretariat for 45 days during the fag end of the first Pinarayi government, have reached the state capital to plan their next course of action in which their target is former law minister A K Balan.
With the rank list on PSC LGS (various) set to expire on August 3, the rank holders from various districts had set their hopes high on the LDF government coming out with a favourable decision during the Cabinet meeting on Thursday. But when that did not happen, the rank holders decided to meet reporters at the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club on Friday morning to highlight the failure of the LDF government to honour its promise.
They are upset with A K Balan who had brokered peace with the protesters on February 28, by promising them that the government will take up the matter with the Election Commission as by then the Model Code had kicked in. The protesters were forced to call off their indefinite fast before the Secretariat hoping that Balan will keep his word. Laya Rajesh from Thrissur, the face of the protest, told TNIE that she is under tremendous pressure from her fellow protesters as they are now blaming her.
“I do not know what to do as my friends have blamed me for not getting the rank lists extended. Scores of job aspirants have tagged me on my Facebook account. It is the previous LDF government that gave an undertaking that promotion jobs will be reported, which will enable the PSC rank holders to get the job. But this has proved a damp squib,” said Laya.
Interestingly, a sizeable section of the protestors are peeved with Laya as they believe that she had joined hands with the government, which has led them to sever ties with her. There were 46,000 job aspirants in the PSC LGS (various) rank list published on June 30, 2018. When the PSC rank holders called off their indefinite fast, it had upset the plans of the Youth Congress leadership led by its president Shafi Parambil, who were also on an indefinite fast in front of the Secretariat.
“Following Opposition Leader V D Satheesan taking up the PSC rank holders issue in the assembly on Thursday, the YC will also become involved in the protest yet again,” MLA Shafi Parambil told TNIE.
The PSC Women Police rank holders had kicked off their indefinite protest on Tuesday and the LDC rank holders on Thursday in front of the Secretariat.