Tirupati: The 1998 batch of District Selection Committee qualified candidates are still waiting for the jobs 19 years after they cleared the test. Nearly, 60 of them have committed suicide over the years as they were unable eke out a living. About 3,500 candidates and their families still hold hope of getting a recruitment call. All this due to utter negligence and apathy on part of government officials. Several committees appointed by sucessive governments had reported of the injustice happened to those candidates, yet none did any concrete to work for a solution.
The government had in 1998 notified DSC for 36,136 posts, but only 18,000 candidates had qualified the DSC examination. As the qualified candidates were fewer than needed, the government later reduced the qualification marks by 5, so that more candidates could become eligible. This had created confusion and only 25,000 posts were filled, considering the other posts as backlogs to be filled up later.
Candidates who had not been given jobs had approached the government in 2004 with a request to then chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy. The government then ordered two committees with ministers and secretaries to lok into the matter. Both the committees had submited reports in favour of the candidates. But, the government its own time in taking a decision on the recruitments. Years later in 2014, candidates approached CM N. Chandrababu Naidu, who assured them of jobs. The CM and the HRD minister of Andhra Pradesh ordered a committee with teachers MLC to finalise and to sort out the facts.
The slow progress made by the committee on the issue till date bothers the qualified candidates. Speaking to this correspondent, 1998 batch DSC qualified teachers’ union secretary, Mattamula Govinda Raju said, “We are thankful to the government, they have noticed our situation. But the government should take a decision at the earliest. Any further delay will lead to several other obstacles like the election code coming into force etc. The report should be filed as soon as possible.”
