Mamata proposes to tweak recruitment exams

After frequent attacks on out of state candidates, especially north Indian candidates appearing for exams for recruitment in the Indian railways, the ministry is mulling a proposal wherein exams for vacancies in any state will be taken simultaneously in all 22 Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) centres.

“Looking at the events which occurred in Maharashtra and Assam in part, there is a proposal that these exams can be taken at any one of the 22 centres, saving candidates from violent attacks and even long travel,” said a top official in the ministry.

Maharshtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists had disrupted examinations for some Class III posts in Western Railways in May 2007. Eight MNS activists had been arrested following the incident, with the MNS claiming that the attack took place because not a single Marathi had been called up the exam. In Assam, too, such incidents have taken place, with mostly candidates from Bihar being targeted in the attacks.

This is not the only plan that Mamata Banerjee seems to have for the RRBs. On Friday
night she changed the heads of all 22 RRBs with immediate effect. Sources in the railways say that this was due to increasing complaints of irregularities in railway  recruitments.

“Already several cases of recruitments done under the regime of former minister Lalu Prasad Yadav have been referred to the CBI. In that case it had been alleged that members of Yadav’s family had promised and delivered railway jobs to some people in exchange for land in Bihar,” said the source.

“The minister may have bombarded West Bengal with goodies in the railway budget but she feels that recruitments should be unbiased by regionalism,” said the source.