ONGOLE: Candidates who applied for paramedical staff posts in Prakasam district, staged protests at the DM&HO office here on Friday and Saturday, alleging irregularities in the selection process. Various people’s organisations also extended support to their protest. They demanded that the candidates be shortlisted strictly based on merit.
A notification to recruit 348 paramedical staff was issued recently to overcome the shortage of staff to combat COVID-19 crisis. The posts include child psychologist, radiographer, MNO, FNO, darkroom assistant, operation theatre assistant, pharmacist, lab technician, staff nurse and data entry operator. The recruitment drive evoked a huge response and about 3,000 candidates applied for the paramedical staff posts.
The DM&HO office shortlisted the applications and displayed the list containing the names of 1,500 candidates on its website on Thursday night. The shortlisted candidates were asked to attend for certificate verification to be held on Saturday and Sunday. Many eligible candidates whose names did not figure in the list, got disappointed, visited the DM&HO office and enquired about the criteria followed for shortlisting the applications, alleging that they were meted out a raw deal despite having requisite qualifications. .
DM&HO Padmavathi informed the candidates that the list was prepared by the DEO office as the DM&HO office is facing shortage of staff as several of them tested positive for coronavirus. She said the task of shortlisting the candidates was entrusted to the DEO office.
With the reply given by the DM&HO, the candidates approached District Education Officer VS Subba Rao and stated that injustice was done to the meritorious candidates. The DEO promised to pursue the matter with the DM&HO office.
The candidates also submitted a memorandum to the Joint Collector seeking correction of errors that occurred in shortlisting the applications. When the issue went to the notice of the District Collector, he sought details from the officials concerned.
Meanwhile, the DM&HO announced that the certificate verification scheduled for Saturday and Sunday was cancelled and it will be held on Monday and Tuesday after examining all the applications once again.
“Some mistakes occurred in the data entry stage of the shortlisted applications. Some applicants furnished wrong information pertaining to their eligibility in submission of applications through online, which led to some more mistakes in shortlisting the candidates. We will examine all the applications once again to come up with a fresh list based on the merit. The certificate verification of shortlisted candidates will be taken up after the announcement of the fresh list,” the DM&HO told The New Indian Express.