Appointment letters for 11,236 posts in 24 Govt depts handed over ** Ad for 10,000 more jobs will be out soon
HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, Sept 23: Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday asserted that his government will not hesitate to take any step to ensure a fair and transparent recruitment process in the state, including suspending internet services for up to 20 hours.
Sarma was speaking at an appointment letter distribution ceremony for 11,236 posts in 24 government departments here.
“We are committed to fulfil our pre-poll promise of providing 1 lakh government jobs. About 27,000 appointments have already been given in the last one-and-half-years, and today we are increasing the tally further,” he said.
“We will continue to organise such appointment letter distribution ceremonies till we reach the 1-lakh figure,” Sarma added.
Referring to the criticism over suspension of internet services, Sarma said the state will not come to a standstill if that is implemented for two hours.
“If is for the cause of the poor, middle-class and underprivileged people, we will suspend the internet for 20 hours next time without any hesitation,” the chief minister asserted.
Sarma said advertisements for 10,000 more jobs will be out soon, and urged youths who have failed to make the cut so far to carry on with their preparations.
The state government will also make an important announcement regarding another pre-poll promise of providing self-employment opportunities to two lakh youths on October 8, he said.
The CM said the recruitment process in education and home departments, which are major job providers, has already been made fair and transparent.
“When the results of these 26,000 posts (Grade 3 and Grade 4) are out, I ask the journalists to find out one person who can say that he or she got the job through unfair means.
“If even one such person is there, our government will quit from power,” Sarma said.
Sarma, speaking about his own experience in 1998 when he was yet to become an MLA, claimed that jobs used to be given to candidates without any selection process, especially in the education department.
The chief minister said there was a “job market” in existence and he had initiated steps for ensuring a transparent recruitment mechanism in the education department since 2011, when he was given charge of the portfolio.
Of all the appointment letters distributed on Friday, 5,335 posts are in the Home Department, 27 in the Higher Education and Technical Education Department, 3,811 in the School Education Department, 277 in the Panchayat and Rural Development Department, 299 in the Health and Family Welfare Department including Medical Education, 304 in PWD, 137 in Irrigation, 33 in Environment and Forests, 24 in Skills, Employment and Entrepreneurship, 27 in Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, 13 in Sports and Youth Welfare, 11 in Transformation and Development department, six post each in Tourism and Handloom and Textile Department, four posts each in Women and Child Development Department, Public Health Engineering Department and IT Department, three posts each in Transport Department, Water Resources Department and Fisheries Department and two posts in Cooperation Department, one each in Home and Urban Affairs Department, Industry and Public Enterprises Department and Information and Public Relations Department.
The chief minister said the recruitment process for about 26,000 posts in Class III and Class IV already has been transparent.
He said the government wants to send a message to those who want to create a negative environment in the state that the days of negative thinking in Assam are now over.
He urged the candidates who received their appointment letters on Friday to present gifts to their parents with a part of their first month’s salary, give something to the places of worship like Namghar with their second month salary and give something to the schools they took education from with the help of their third month salary.
He also requested the youth recruited in police to be sympathetic to the weaker sections of the society.
Chief secretary Paban Kumar Barthakur delivered the welcome address in the programme. (With inputs from PTI)
