Telangana statehood celebrations fail to enthuse job seekers

HYDERABAD: The ongoing preparations for the second anniversary of Telangana statehood have done little to cheer lakhs of job seekers in the state. With the government failing to fill over 1.30 lakh vacancies, getting employed in the separate state has been a pipe dream for over six lakh unemployed youths in Telangana.
There were 1.07 lakh vacancies from various departments in June 2014, when the TRS government took over, and over 30,000 employees were superannuated since then.The government, however, has filled only 3,500 vacancies despite the assurance of filling one lakh jobs by chief minister K Chandraskhar Rao a year ago. The tardy progress in recruitment, ironically, has impacted the employees too badly since general transfers have been halted with the government choosing to wait till the recruitment process is done.
“The chief minister sold us the dream of getting jobs in the new state apart from his promise of getting justice to Telangana in terms of getting its due share of water and funds. Neellu, Nidhulu, Niyamakalu (Water-Funds-Jobs) has been their slogan. But, the CM has definitely failed to fulfill one of his promises- that is giving us jobs,” said K Manavatha Roy, chairman of Telangana Unemployed Joint Action Committee.
While the government is gearing up for the statehood celebrations on June 2, the unemployed youths led by the TUJAC are now getting ready for a massive protest on the day. “The situation has forced us to launch an agitation, when we are supposed to be celebrating the state formation day as others are doing,” said Roy.
Amid the uproar for jobs, the chief minister last week announced that government jobs would be given to members from the families of Telangana martyrs. He said the appointment orders would be issued during the celebrations on June 2. His government, however, is yet to take concrete step to address the unemployment issue dogging the state.
While the official records say that over 3 lakh job seekers with a PhD degree have been registered with Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC), another 3 lakh youths with various qualifications are waiting for recruitments.
Senior officials said the process of recruitment started, as per the chief minister’s directive, some time back in January this year. The process, however, could not gain momentum after the finance department issuing finance clearance for over 20,000 jobs from across the departments.
Over 3,500 vacancies have been filled those including 954 assistant executive engineers ( AEE), 1000 assistant engineers ( AE) in the engineering department, and 304 various posts in Hyderabad meter water works department.
Notification has been issued to fill 439 Group- 2 as against the existing 3000 vacancies. Written exams have been conducted to fill over 9,000 vacancies for the posts of constables and sub-inspectors in police department. As the excise department has sought an immediate recruitment process, a notification has been issued to fill vacant positions of 12 assistant excise superintendent (AES), 221 excise sub-inspector (ESI), 340 constables, and 52 junior assistants.