In a major goof-up, the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) forgot to post vacancies for the Mumbai and Maharashtra divisions. Around 500 slots suddenly crop up for Mumbai and Maharashtra candidates; MNS claims credit
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu
In a major goof-up, the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) forgot to post vacancies for the Mumbai and Maharashtra divisions.
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Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu
Subsequently, the Mahara-shtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) alleged that though Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu hails from Maharashtra, he had done nothind for Mumbaikars. The MNS also claimed that another advertisement was placed in newspapers listing 487 posts for candidates from the Mumbai division after the party wrote to the RRB.
On June 27, the RRB had issued advertisements via notice 01/2015 for the recruitment of people for the post of junior engineers, senior section engineers, depot material superintendents and chief depot material superintendents with a pay grade from Rs 9,300 to Rs 34,800. In the Mumbai and Maharashtra divisions, there were no vacancies indicated.
Action stations
The MNS saw the opportunity and approached the Chairman of the Railway Recruitment Board, Mumbai, B K Dadabhoy and threatened to go on a dharna if Maharashtra doesn’t get its due.
“Our Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu, hails from the city, but he is able to do little for Mumbai or Maharashtra. You saw it in the Railway Budget, and now this. Also, doesn’t Mumbai, the largest money-earner for the Railways, require engineers?” asked Jeetendra Patil, general secretary of the Maharashtra Navnirman Railway Kamgar Sena, the railway wing of the MNS.
“Usually, candidates from Maharashtra or Mumbai don’t go to exams outside Mumbai. Compared to this city, in other centres, frauds are more common in the hiring process. This is next to impossible in Mumbai. So, they hire people in other divisions and later transfer them to Mumbai. We think that is the reason behind not recruiting people from the state,” said a senior railway officer, who requested anonymity.
Back on track
After the MNS move, RRB Mumbai immediately woke up and issued an advertisement listing 487 posts in the city’s railway division. “Now 487 candidates will get work because of the move; they issued an advertisement after our move on July 6,” said Patil.
The other side
However, Dadabhoy says that it’s just a coincidence that MNS approached the entity, and the advertisement followed. “Yes, the advertisements had some problem, but they were issued from Secunderabad and it was in the pipeline to bring the Mumbai advertisement,” said Dadabhoy.