TIRUCHI The Railway Recruitment Board conducts all exams in a fair and transparent manner without any bias and there was no scope for discrimination based on the state of residence of the candidates as alleged in certain quarters, the Southern Railway has said.
In a clarification issued in the wake of protests by some railway apprentices in front of the Golden Rock Railway Workshop here seeking permanent jobs in railways and alleging discrimination against candidates of Tamil Nadu, the Southern Railway said that there was reservation based on the origin of the State or state of residence.
“There is no manual intervention at any stage from online application to conducting computer based test and evaluation,” said B.Guganesan, Chief Public Relations Officer, Southern Railway, said in a statement.
The primary responsibility 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% were from Tamil Nadu and a total number of 3218 candidates were selected for the posts of Assistant Loco Pilot and Technicians. Of the total selection, 17% 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 % of candidates selected were from Tamil Nadu.
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 Tiruchi district portal. Sample of e-pass of two candidates were submitted to Tiruchi Collector for perusal, Mr.Guganesan said.