The Madurai Division of the Southern Railway has sought to downplay the large-scale appointment of north Indian candidates to positions in the Division under the all-India recruitment for Group D or Level I posts.
Declining to give a State-wise break-up of the 620 candidates selected for posts including trackman, pointsman, helper and gatekeeper, a senior official said, “We don’t look at the States to which the candidates belong.”
Admitting that many of them were from north India, he attributed this to the Central government’s reservation policy, which offers 7.5% reservation to candidates belonging to the Scheduled Tribes. “In Tamil Nadu, the population of STs is around 1%, while the Central government has provided an all-India reservation of 7.5% in recruitment. People belonging to ST communities, who are in large numbers in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and the northeastern States, do apply for posts in the Railway Recruitment Cell - Chennai, which recruits people for the Southern Railway,” he added.
‘Better chance’
Noting that candidates who have passed Class X can appear for the common online entrance test, the official said they should choose any one Railway Recruitment Cell where they would prefer to be appointed. “With more people from other States appearing for the test and choosing RRC-Chennai and relatively less people from T.N. and Kerala appearing for the test, those hailing from States other than T.N. and Kerala stand a better chance of getting a job,” he explained.
Of the 620 candidates selected for the Madurai Division, 560 have joined duty. All of them appeared for the entrance test held last year and passed it.
The official said people from T.N. are more focused on clearing the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission examination, while candidates from north Indian States tend to concentrate on Railway recruitment.
Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan said the recruitment policy should be changed to accord priority to the local populace.
