THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Last grade servant (LGS) job aspirants on the Kerala PSC rank list who had held a protest in front of the secretariat for 34 days during the fag end of the last government’s tenure, demanding their immediate appointment, will meet ministers and officers of the newly elected government urging them to make the process faster.
They will come to the capital for the purpose once the triple lockdown is lifted as the validity of the LGS rank list will end on August 3. According to the aspirants, they had to meet the officers “six times” for following up on the government promises after their strike was called off on February 28. Later, the election code of conduct, elections and second wave of the pandemic and subsequent lockdown halted their further course of action.
The 34-day strike was called off after the representatives of the protesting aspirants held talks with then law minister A K Balan at the secretariat during which the latter agreed to regularise the working hours of night watchmen to eight hours. This way, more appointments could be made from the existing LGS rank list.
Laya Rajesh, who had become the face of the protest, said that they are still in touch with their respective MLAs to remind them about the assurance given by the previous government. They have also demanded an extension of the rank list’s validity to another six months in view of the second wave of the pandemic. “We used to be in the capital twice a week to meet the bureaucrats in the secretariat and DYFI leaders who had also held a meeting with us after our protest was called off. In fact, we had come to the capital six times. Still, there has been no progress. We have learnt that the said file is under consideration of the health department and it needs to be sent to the finance department for the final nod. So the delay. However, we will meet the ministers and officials soon after the triple lockdown is lifted,” she said.
From day one when the protestors started their indefinite protest in front of the secretariat from January 26, their demand was that the night watchmen’s working hours should be regularised to eight hours. They had alleged that in certain departments, night watchmen were working for 20 hours or more which had hampered their job prospects.
Earlier, the protesters said the minister had clearly assured them that the government order on regularising the working hours of night watchmen would be issued before March 31. Since the model code of conduct was in force in March, the minister had even promised that the government would seek an exemption from the Election Commission of India. However, the government neither issued the order nor requested the Election Commission for the exemption, the aspirants alleged.
PSC chairman M K Sakeer told TNIE that the commission cannot extend the validity of the rank list as it was already extended to August 3. “The notification for the next examination for LGS post has also been published. Let the aspirants call on the ministers. PSC can’t appoint all on the rank list,” he said.