The candidates belonging to the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category are yet to get posting in Junior Engineer rank in various departments of the State Government.
Especially, the recommended candidates are waiting to get appointment letters for the last two years.
Accordingly, the construction works have been largely affected in the State due to vacancies in engineering jobs in various departments including Water Resources, Panchayati Raj, Rural Development, Urban Development and Works.
In view of the shortage of staff and vacancies in departments, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had directed to fill up Junior Engineer posts by appointing eligible candidates recommended by a committee formed by Chief Engineers.
As per the order, the committee had asked the Chairmen of various Departmental Committees to send a list of required number of candidates, while no such request was received from the Panchayati Raj and Rural Development departments for candidates under ST category.
Department of Water Resources had requested the Chief Engineers’ Committee to appoint as many as 314 Junior Engineers, including 59 for unreserved, 47 for OBC, 43 SC and 165 for ST candidates.
However, the Committee recommended only 108 candidates belonging to ST category instead of 165.
Although the department has appointed almost all the candidates under various categories, only 45 candidates under ST category were appointed in the Junior Engineer post. The appointment letter is yet to be issued to rest of the candidates. The authorities now say that as the candidates were not appointed within a year, no further appointment is possible now.
The candidates complained that they should be appointed on a priority basis in view of backlog of vacancies. However, the authorities have intentionally delayed the appointment, which is illegal, alleged the victims. Even as the Chief Secretary and Secretaries are concerned about young tribal candidates, red tapism is depriving them of their due, rued a young engineer.