Hyderabad: Railways should allot low level posts to locals says B Vinod Kumar

Hyderabad: Stating that conducting exams at a centralised level for local candidates is completely irrational and detrimental to the rights of the backward sections of the State, Telangana State Planning Board Vice-Chairman B Vinod Kumar on Saturday demanded that Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav scrap the national eligibility test for Group C&D posts and provide jobs to locals.

Expressing concern over the violent incidents in Bihar and UP Railway exam, the Planning Board VC said that these incidents could have been avoided if the Railway Minister took note of the suggestions by him while he was an MP. He recalled that he had urged earlier Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, too, not to take up the national-level exams for C and D category posts.

Vinod Kumar said that all through the years, north Indian states, especially Bihar and UP, used to get the lion's share of the Group C and D jobs in the railways and they still were. "For many years, Group C and D posts in South Central Railway (SCR) have been allocated to north Indians, who are not aware of the local languages but are working as Gang men/Lineman/Class 4 employees including railway station masters at various stations across rural Telangana.

Why should a Bihari or a UP person come to Telangana and snatch away the jobs reserved for and deserved by the locals? It's totally unrealistic to have a national level test for local jobs, particularly C and D level jobs which are labour intensive ones," said Vinod Kumar.

The Planning Board VC 'vehemently' opposed the Centre's proposal of 'One nation, One everything.' The Indian constitution vouches India is a union of states and the governments must consider the interests of the underprivileged sections such as SCs, STs and other backward classes in the respective states.