Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu have raised questions over the recruitment policy adopted by the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) in Cuddalore district after the details of a shortlisted set of candidates to be interviewed, was posted on the public sector enterprise's website. Based on the names on the list, leaders from the DMK and CPI(M) have pointed out that of the 1,582 people who cleared the online exam for the posts, only around 10 belonged to Tamil Nadu. According to the NLC website, the short listed candidates were announced on January 30. The interviews will be conducted for engineering posts in the mechanical, electrical, civil, control and instrumentation departments as well as computer, mining, geology and finance departments.
Bringing up the issue of deprivation of jobs for local candidates in the Rajya Sabha before Vice President and Chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday, DMK MP Tiruchy Siva said, "In the Neyveli Lignite Corporation, recently 1,560 candidates have been called for interview of which only 11 are from Tamil Nadu. This is deliberately being done and deserving candidates in the state are not getting these jobs."
CPI(M) state secretary K Balakrishnan too expressed concern regarding the list while speaking at the Neyveli Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) office.
"Of the 1,500, barely eight people are students from Tamil Nadu. On what basis are they selected? There is no guarantee that even these eight people will get the job. Has there been any major irregularities in these selections? This has shocked parents and students in the state. NLC itself exists because so many local people gave up their land. They have even lost water resources because of it," he alleged. "Why can't they reserve some positions for the people of the state and district whose livelihoods they have destroyed? We will definitely bring this up with the government. NLC must explain this." he added.
When TNM contacted NLC regarding the recruitment process, Chokkalingam, the Tamil Nadu Public relations officer, clarified that aptitude tests for posts in the corporation were conducted by EdCIL, a public sector undertaking which falls under the administrative control of the Ministry of Education.
"The exam itself is very similar to GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering). But the simple answer to why there are more north Indians shortlisted is that they performed better in the exams," he said.
DMK MP Tiruchy Siva however stated that this explanation is not satisfactory. Speaking to TNM, he alleged that this trend of neglecting local candidates is visible in all central government postings in the state.
"I have earlier proposed that 90% of jobs in every state, not just Tamil Nadu, must be reserved for local candidates. When this issue came to my notice, I brought this up during the zero hour. Over one lakh people have written this exam for 259 posts. Of this about 1,500 have been shortlisted. Of this, only about 10 are from Tamil Nadu. In the whole of India, Tamil Nadu is number one in engineering and medical education. States like Uttar Pradesh are nowhere near this. Tamil Nadu candidates cannot be that bad. There is something wrong going on," he stated.
PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss, in a statement, said that the party will organise a protest if an investigation is not conducted into the recruitment of NLC officers. He also demanded that 50% of the officers to be recruited be the people of Tamil Nadu including those residing close to the plant.