Allegations galore over village/ward secy recruitment drive
ONGOLE: After announcement of the results and at the stage when certificates of the selected candidates in the recent village/ ward secretariat staff recruitment process were being verified, several allegations were raised regarding the roster points system followed in the recruitment drive.
“In the present roster point system, while some of the ineligible candidates became eligible for recruitment, many who were eligible were forced out of the race. In this circumstances, we demand that the government and district administration go for a comprehensive inspection of the entire process and do justice to the meritorious and eligible candidates,” said around 20 candidates who took the exam after they registered a complaint regarding the same with Prakasam district joint collector S Shan Mohan on Thursday.
The complainants said, “A candidate, from the BC community, who secured 820th rank with 70.5 marks in the Ward Facilities Secretary category was placed in the list of the ineligible candidates. Also, an OC candidate, who secured 886th rank with 69.25 marks, was kept in the list of eligible candidate. This way, around eight OC candidates have been wrongfully placed in the list of eligible candidates.”
Similarly, in the Village Surveyors Category, one SC candidate, who secured 1,523rd rank with 51.5 marks found himself in the list of ineligible candidates, but surprisingly another candidate, who was not in any reserved category and secured 1735th rank with only 45 marks got a place in the list of selected candidates.
In the Ward Welfare Education Assistant category, one BC-D community candidate, who secured 1606th rank with 70.5 marks did not get a place in the selection list, but another OC candidate, who got 3,812th rank with only 62.25 marks, made his way to the list of selected candidates. There are allegations that, in the Category-II of Village Surveyors posts, officials selected more than 20 percent non-local candidates and left out the eligible local candidates.
The candidates alleged that, due to the mistakes in the recruitment process and irregularities in the roster points system they were apprehensive of losing their rightful employment opportunities. On other hand, on Friday, a group of differently-abled aspirants, who took part in this recruitment drive staged a dharna in front of the district collectorate. Responding to these allegations, S Shan Mohan said, “We have received some complaints regarding the local/non-local reservations and roster point system errors that happened in the selection process. We will pursue the issue once again.”
Honorarium for volunteers
As many as 1,50,661 persons working as village volunteers from August 15 will get `7,500 as honorarium for 45 days on October 1. The government had fixed `5,000 as monthly honorarium for them. In a release issued by Panchayat Raj and Rural Development department, it was mentioned that out of 1,92,848 appointed as village volunteers, 1,85,525 were discharging their services. The government will first pay the honorarium to 1,50,661. The remaining will be paid between October 1 and 5