Poll fever: Karnataka government launches recruitment drive
BENGALURU: With Assembly polls just a few months away, the Karnataka government has taken up a recruitment drive as a big way to fill up vacancies in various government departments. As many as 2.5 lakh posts are lying vacant in various departments.
Currently, 5.2 lakh employees are working in 72 departments of the state government, including agriculture, home, urban development, health, tourism, education, food and civil supplies, power, water resources, excise, medical education, rural development and panchayat raj.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had given an assurance to recruiting one lakh people and many departments have started the process. Kalyan Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KKSRTC) has called applications for 2,000 drivers’ posts, Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) has invited applications for 1,492 engineers, 330 engineers posts are lying vacant in the Public Works Department (PWD) and 6,406 Second Division Accountant posts in the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department.
While Karnataka Excise Department has called applications for posts of 1,000 constables and 100 sub-inspectors, the Karnataka state police department has called applications to fill 3,484 posts of police constables.
‘Recruitment by Jan/Feb’
Recruitment is expected to be completed by January/February 2023. A senior official from the state government said that the recruitment process started a month ago. There is a severe shortage of staff in most of the departments. State government for various reasons, including the Covid-19 pandemic, could not speed up the process. “Now, we are hoping to hire at least 50,000 people by the end of March 2023,” the official said.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Karnataka State Government Employees’ Association president CS Shadakshari said that with a shortage of staff, the employees who are currently working are overburdened with work.
“We have been requesting the government to recruit people. One of the main obstacles for the government to recruit is court cases. As many as 45,000 posts are lying vacant due to legal hurdles. This includes teachers’ recruitment where the department had finalised over 15,000 candidates. Government has to intervene and complete the recruitment process,” he added.
Meanwhile, the government constituted the Seventh Pay Commission, headed by retired chief secretary Sudhakar Rao, to revise the salaries of government employees. “We are hoping CM Bommai will make an announcement in this regard in the state budget earlier next year,” Shadakshari added.