Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Jun 2: Unemployed engineers of the state, under the banner of the Joint Core Committee (JCC), on Saturday pleaded with the state government to grant one-time relaxation to the rural works department (RWD) to conduct the recruitment examination for junior engineers (civil) which had been cancelled last year following a cabinet decision.
On 20 February 2017, the department had advertised for recruitment to 66 JE (civil) posts. However, on 4 July, the state cabinet through a notification cancelled the examination, which had been scheduled for 8 July, and subsequently assigned the responsibility of conducting the recruitment to the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC).
The APPSC is yet to conduct the examination, and the candidates who had applied for the posts are still waiting, the committee said.
“Due to the sudden cancellation of the examination, many youths with engineering degrees had to suffer a lot as many of them not only missed the examination but also crossed the age-limit,” JCC secretary Goda Dinung said, addressing media persons at the press club here.
The JCC, which is a conglomeration of the Arunachal Pradesh Diploma Unemployed Engineers’ Association, the Arunachal Unemployed Civil Engineers’ Coordination, and the All Arunachal Pradesh Unemployed Engineers’ Association, said the sudden cancellation of the examination had deprived thousands of unemployed engineers of the opportunity.
It appealed to the state government to initiate steps to grant one-time relaxation to the department to conduct the examination, “so that the candidates can write the examination without any discrimination.”
Fifteen months have passed since the cancellation of the JE (civil) exam, and now at least 23 exams are pending in the APPSC, it claimed, adding that, in the circumstances, it would not be possible for the commission to conduct the JE (exam) anytime soon.
According to the employment exchange office, there are around 52,232 registered unemployed engineers in the state.
The JCC also called for “extension of age relaxation from 21-40 years, plus 5 years’ relaxation for APST candidates, for recruitment in government jobs.”
Referring to the age limits and relaxation set by other states, it claimed that, due to the existing age criteria in Arunachal, many candidates could not sit for examinations despite being qualified and capable.
The JCC also questioned why the APPSC could not have a bigger building to accommodate all the candidates in one place to check malpractices during examinations. It alleged that malpractices are often detected in several examination centres, except for the APPSC building, where only 920 candidates can be seated.
The JCC requested the state government to redress its grievances at the earliest, adding that unemployed engineers of the state would otherwise surrender their education certificates to the government, “in front of the media.”
