In a first, Jaipur Municipal Corporation gives jobs to 4,957 sanitation workers

JAIPUR: With an eye on assembly election, the Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) has provided jobs in large numbers to sanitation workers on Monday who were waiting for elusive employment for over a decade.
For the first time in the history of JMC, recruitment of sanitation workers was done for 4,957 posts. This was seen as distribution of sops before the election to woo a section of Valmiki Samaj who was waiting for openings since long.

In a grand event at Suraj Maidan, where more than 10,000 people were present, urban development and housing (UDH) minister Shrichand Kriplani distributed the appointment certificates to the selected candidates.

Speaking on the occasion, Kriplani said, “Due to strong will power of our chief minister, we are able to recruit sanitation workers in large numbers. To benefit the youth, our government expedited the process after receiving a nod from the court,” he said.

Though, it was an government function, the BJP leaders took advantage of the opportunity as city legislators from different constituencies, including Kalicharan Saraf, Arun Chaturvedi, along with mayor Ashok Lahoti and member of Parliament, Jaipur Ram Charan Bohra reached the venue to interact with the beneficiaries.

Sources at UDH said, directions have been given to organise ceremony in similar pattern in other districts to distribute appointment letters.

The BJP leaders also criticised Congress for not making important recruitment for past several years.

Lahoti said, “For the first time in the history, recruitment of sanitation workers have been done in large numbers. Now, with the additional force, state capital would bag first rank in Swacch Sarvekshan Survey,” he said.

Elated candidates reached at the venue around 8 am and stood in a queue to collect their appointment letter before the programme.

Just after two days Rajasthan High Court disposed of petitions challenging the appointment of safai karmacharis (sweepers), the state government without wasting much time distributed the appointment letters. The single bench of Justice V S Siradhana said that the lottery system adopted by the authorities for the selection of sweepers was right.

During the Gehlot government in 2012, applications were invited to fill the posts in a phase-wise manner. In the first phase, preference was given to Valmiki caste, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, while other categories were considered in the second phase. The matter was challenged in the court and since then the process was put on hold.

The petitioner challenged that department merging of the recruitment of the 2012 with the present recruitment. The petitioners said that they were selected in 2012 but were not given appointment. Now, the government had merged the vacancies of the 2012 appointment with the new recruitment of 2018. But the court did not heed their argument.