Chennai: Amidst protest by the opposition parties that north Indians and those from other parts of the country were preferred for employment in Tangedco, State Electricity Minister P. Thangamani said their appoints have been made as per the Supreme Court order. And those who have been appointed should learn Tamil within two years’ time or lose the job, he said.
Contending that the opposition party leaders are aware that they (non-Tamils) have been appointed as per the Supreme Court order, the Minister said all those who have been appointed should learn Tamil within two years or else they would forfeit their jobs.
The Minister’s assertion comes in the wake of allegations by the opposition parties that the State government ignored the candidates from Tamil Nadu and preferred those from other parts of the country for the posts of assistant engineers in Tangedco. Recently, Tangedco has recruited 325 assistant engineers in electrical and civil divisions.
According to a leader of Tirupur TNEB Employees Union affiliated to the DMK’s Labour Progressive Front (LPF), over 1.4 lakh people have applied for the posts. The TANGEDCO inducted about 38 candidates from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Bihar. He alleged that while lakhs of engineering graduates in Tamil Nadu waited for jobs, the corporation gave chances to the people from other States.
Denying allegations of power cut in the State, Mr. Thangamani told reporters that there were no power outages in the State at present. He claimed the power supply could have been disrupted at certain places where the electric posts got uprooted due to strong winds. Under such cases, TANGEDCO staff have taken steps to restore electricity supply immediately, he added.
