Around 55,000 candidates turned up to appear for the field assistant trainee post examination advertised by Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, were shocked when the company announced the last-minute cancellation of it on Sunday.
A record number of 77,000 submitted their applications online with the qualification of matriculation/SSC pass for 91 posts of field assistant trainee. Those who came to appear for the test were in for surprise when they were asked to leave the exam centres. They were told that they could not receive the question paper sets from Delhi by flight on time.
The cancellation of the examination led to protests at Maddilapalem in the city, Anakapalle, Vizianagaram and other places and strong criticism by the trade unions.
The test for 645 posts of junior trainee with ITI/engineering diploma qualification was, however, conducted successfully in the morning session.
For 91 posts of field assistant trainees, applications were received from across the country.
Examination was supposed to have been conducted at 45 centres in Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram district in the afternoon session.
When contacted, an official of RINL told The Hindu that as per the schedule they should have received the question paper sets two hours before the commencement of the test.
“As the flight from Delhi was cancelled, they could not receive the question papers on time necessitating the cancellation of the exam. The new date for the exam will be notified later.”
Sources said the question papers were supplied by Delhi-based ABC Consultants, which had earlier supplied the question papers with a lot of bloomers for the post of management trainees. The exam for MT was cancelled on June 30.
While the junior field assistant trainees get around ₹18,000 to ₹25,000, the junior trainees CTC is around ₹40,000 per month.
Probe sought
Blaming the private agency for bloomers and delayed despatch of question papers was nothing but shirking responsibility, said Visakha Steel Employees’ Union honorary secretary Padi Trinadha Rao.
He said a thorough probe should be ordered into goof-ups committed in framing and supplying question papers. Cases should be booked against those found guilty for denting the brand image of RINL, he added.
CITU Maddilapalem unit office secretary Laxman Rao said the field assistant trainee test had attracted candidates from distant places like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar due to job security and promising career.
