Race for a ward boy’s job with BMC

If you can clock 4km in 15 minutes and you know Marathi,  you can apply for a job as a ward boy or ayah with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Female candidates should be able to complete 2km in 15 minutes.

That's the precondition the civic body has laid down for vacancies for 3,616 ward boys and 300 ayahs, in an advertisement it released. Of course, you should have also passed the Std VIII examination.

In the advertisement, the BMC has stated that candidates have to pass a physical ability test. Physical qualifications include a height of above 165 cm and weight of more than 50 kg.

Sunil Chitnis, secretary of the Bhartiya Kamgar Sena (the Shiv Sena's labour wing), opposed this. "These physical standards are required for the military, paramilitary and police force. Is the BMC planning to send the ward boys and ayahs to the battlefront," he asked. He criticised the BMC for not consulting labour unions while setting such norms, which according to him, were "ridiculous for such posts".

Candidates also have to pass a written test. The physically challenged can apply for the posts, for which they have a 3% reservation, and are exempted from the physical test.

"The norms are to check the physical ability of candidates and to see if s/he will be able to work in shifts. After such tests, it will be easy to choose the right and healthy candidates. The procedure is totally transparent and there is no scope for manipulation," an official from the BMC's personnel department explained.