Govt set to recruit panchayat workers

15 April 2012

biswabrata goswami
TAMLUK, 15 APRIL: With an eye on the panchayat poll, the state government is all set to recruit 7,000 panchayat workers across the state. This comes days after the chief minister, Miss Mamata Banerjee, lavished more sops on the minority community, including new loan schemes, monthly honorarium and housing subsidy for imams in the state and an employment bank.
Outlining plans undertaken for filling up vacant posts in almost every panchayat across the state, Trinamul leader and Union minister of state for rural development, Mr Sisir Adhikari, said: “Thousands of posts in panchayats are lying vacant for years and because of this work at the panchayat level is being hampered. To speed up the work, we will recruit 7,000 panchayat workers across the state and the recruitment will be completed within two months.”
Mr Adhikari said the erstwhile Left Front government bungled while recruiting panchayat workers. “As a result, an unprecedented number of cases against various recruitment were lodged and our government is now facing a problem. This time, all district magistrates have been asked to deal all recruitment process with utmost sincerity,” said Mr Adhikari.
In a letter (memo no 58(40)/C dated 13.3.2012), Mr Parwez Ahmad Siddiqui, district magistrate of East Midnapore, has given an instruction to all officials to maintain some vital criterion so that the recruitment process is done with utmost care. “It has been seen in the past couple of years that there has been a huge number of recruitment done in ASHA, GP Sahayak, ANM and ICDS and it has been seen that most of these recruitment process has drawn several court cases….It has been seen in many cases that the court cases have arisen because of certain gaps or lack of transparency in the process of recruitment wherein the more deserving candidates somehow could not get an opportunity,” it read.
Mr Siddiqui has also mentioned in the letter that there were many court cases on the grounds that essential eligibility, qualification certificates or documents were either not received or deliberately removed from the application form thus paving the way for selection of lesser eligible candidates.
He has warned that proper departmental action would be taken if any officer is found negligent while dealing with the recruitment process.
Mr Adhikari said: “Our government always wants fair selection in any recruitment process and, accordingly, the recruitment of 7,000 panchayat workers would be fair.”
The panchayat poll, due in May next year, is being seen as the first trial of strength for the Trinamul Congress since it assumed office.