A sting operation conducted by a news portal has claimed that money is being exchanged for 3000 posts of Rural Development Officers in Uttar Pradesh allegedly at the behest of Samajwadi party MLAs and party office bearers.
The jobs in the Rural Development Department were thrown open in July last year and the offer was closed in January this year.
The sting, conducted by news portal Cobrapost.com, claims that an Advisor in the state government, said to be close to a minister, and the chairmen of two state corporations, allegedly were caught on camera, talking about money in exchange for the jobs.
The operation has also named two SP MLAs and various others who were also caught on camera on talking about money in exchange for jobs.
An SP MLA and a former minister, who was also in the sting did not talk of taking money, but said that he could recommend candidates to the minister by writing a letter.
He also said that this was for the first time that merit was assigned only 30 marks while 50 marks were alloted for the interview and many people from Western Uttar Pradesh would be recruited.
"Rs 8 lakh to Rs 13 lakh was being demanded for the post, and some 2500 people have already deposited the money. This also shows the strong political involvement in jobs right from the district level," Cobrapost editor Aniruddha Bahal told a press conference here.
More importantly, the sting has claimed that besides the Rural Development Department, where the malpractice was observed, recruitments in the Panchayati Raj and police department were being done is a similar manner. Some 5000 vacancies in the police department was declared open recently.