NEW DELHI: After the recent spate of violence over irregularities in the Railways exam of Non-Technical Popular Categories, the National Thermal Power Corporation finds itself unwittingly caught in the ‘‘crossfire’’ because of a similar acronym.
The protests in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, according to the country’s largest power producer, were “hurting its reputation” because of a wrong impression among the people at large due to the abbreviation of Non-Technical Popular Categories (NTPC) of the Railway recruitment exam.
Pursing the matter seriously, the Maharatna company has categorically urged to the Railway Recruitment Board to ‘‘rename’’ the NTPC exam whose results had sparked violent protests following which the national transporter has suspended its recruitment and formed a panel to look into the allegations of irregularities.
In its letter to the Board, the NTPC Limited has stated that be it in the notice of railway board that the NTPC Ltd has inadvertently been caught in the crossfire following the recent spates of protest in some parts of the country with respect to Railway Recruitment Board’s (RRB) Non-Technical Popular Categories exam.
“The media has been using the abbreviated form of NTPC, which gives the impression that the exams are linked to India’s largest power producer,” NTPC, Executive Director-Human Resources, MSD Bhattamishra wrote in the letter, adding that the protests had hurt its reputation. “This, you would agree, is also hurting our reputation,” the senior officer pointed out.
In the January 28 letter to the Railway’s PR executive director, Bhattamishra urged the national transporter to clarify and use the full form of the Railway Recruitment Schemes in the press statements for preventing a wrong impression amongst the users of social media and public at large. “We would therefore urge you to kindly rename these exams so that no confusion is created in future,” it said.
Identity crisis
The NTPC requested the national transporter that the full form of the tests be used to avoid any confusion. It stated that the acronym, NTPC, was giving the impression he impression that the exams are linked to the power producer