NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, AUG 18
Stating that all Railway Recruitment Board examinations are being conducted in a fair and transparent manner, the Southern Railway on Monday said that there was no discrimination in recruitments against Tamil Nadu candidates in the current recruitment process of Assistant Loco Pilots (ALPs) and Technicians.
The Southern Railway clarified that all the recruitment processes were conducted centralized through RRBs by following rules and regulations strictly. There was no scope for discrimination based on the state of residence of the candidates as alleged by the apprentices seeking a permanent job in railways.
The clarification was issued in the wake of protests by some railway apprentices in front of the Golden Rock Railway Workshop at Ponmalai in Tiruchirappali seeking permanent jobs in railways and alleging discrimination against candidates of Tamil Nadu.
Southern Railway Chief Public Relations Officer B Guganesan said, “There is no manual intervention at any stage from online application to conducting computer-based test and evaluation.”
The CPRO further clarified that “The role of the Railway Recruitment Boards, situated at 21 locations, was to recruit technical and non-technical working and supervisory staff (Group C) required for their allotted jurisdictional divisions of the given railway zone. The applications would be called for by the RRBs from eligible candidates through centralised employment notifications published in the RRB websites and in Employment News.”
The candidate had the option to choose any of the 21 RRBs and allotted the one which had been opted. Candidates belonging to Tamil Nadu have opted not only for RRB-Chennai but to various RRBs. The RRB had issued a common notification in February 2018 for the post of Assistant Loco Pilot and Technicians for filling the vacancies across zonal railways and production units. RRB, Chennai had confirmed that of the total candidates applied, 51 percent were from Tamil Nadu and a total number of 3,218 candidates were selected for the posts of Assistant Loco Pilot and Technicians. Of the total selected candidates, 541 candidates for Technicians posts were allotted to Ponmalai workshop at Trichy after due process done at the Personnel department of Southern Railway Headquarters. Of the total selection, 17 per cent were from Tamil Nadu, the release said.
Most of the candidates were not eligible for the post of technicians as majority of them were diploma holders or engineering graduates whereas the qualification required for technicians was ITI. However, for the post of Assistant Loco Pilot, 53 percent of candidates selected were from Tamil Nadu.
For example, where a candidate opts for RRB/Chennai at the time of application he is allotted to Railway Divisions of Chennai, Trichy, and Salem and Southern Railway Headquarters and ICF to which RRB/Chennai caters to. Once a particular RRB is selected he will not be able to opt for any other RRB, the notification says.
The Railways engaged apprentices in workshops and production units to impart them technical training with the objective of developing skilled manpower. Employment in railways is not guaranteed on completion of Apprenticeship. The procedure of certificate verification for the 541 candidates allotted to the Golden Rock Railway Workshop here was scheduled only after the Ministry of Home Affairs issued guidelines on Unlock -3 effective up to August 31. The notified candidates had arrived Tiruchi by flight and underwent 14 days mandatory quarantine. Swab tests were also taken as per safety protocols. The results of the tests were verified by the railway authorities through the Tiruchi district portal. Sample of e-pass of two candidates was submitted to Tiruchi Collector for perusal, Guganesan said.
Commenting on reservation for the apprentices, Guganesan said, “In 2016 it was decided by Railway Board that 20 percent of the vacancies in case of direct recruitment to posts in Level-1 shall be filled by giving preference to Course completed Act Apprentices. In pursuant to this new rule, 597 vacancies were earmarked for Apprentices and notified through employment notification no: CEN No: 02/2018. A total of 3627 applications were received from apprentices and 2839 appeared for the Exam. Of the candidates who appeared, 272 were shortlisted for the Physical Efficiency Test (PET). At the end of PET, only 54 candidates who had met the minimum qualifying marks were selected against the notified vacancies of 597.”
RRB carries out the whole process and selects candidates purely based on the merit of the candidates and their eligibility criteria. The computer-based tests are conducted in 15 languages which include Tamil also.
It may be also be pointed out that there are no reservations in any RRB based on the origin of state or state of residence. The candidates belonging to Tamilnadu have not only opted for RRB/Chennai but also to various RRBs. For example, in the notifications issued during the last few years about 2.2 lakh candidates from Tamilnadu opted for and applied for RRB/Bengaluru which caters to South Western Railway.
