GUWAHATI, Feb 26 � A large number of candidates of Assam, who apply for jobs in the Railways, do not appear in the examinations, which has become a serious cause of concern. The same trend was seen even in the recent process of recruitments in the Railway Protection Force (RPF), as more than 86 per cent of those called for the test did not appear.
In a report to the Government of Assam, the NF Railway gave a detailed account of the recent controversy regarding appearance of too many candidates from outside the State in the recent recruitment of RPF personnel and pointed out that majority of the candidates of the State did not turn up for the examination.
The report said that the Railways had sought applications to fill up 659 posts of ancillary staff in different trades in the RPF in the rank of constables and 68 of the posts were for the NF Railway. The report revealed that more than 20,000 candidates from the North East had applied for the jobs, of which 18,310 were from Assam.
The NF Railway report revealed that after the scrutiny of the application forms, 917 candidates from Assam were called for the examinations but unfortunately, only 129 appeared for the same and no one knows as to why the rest stayed away from the examinations. As the local youths failed to turn up for the examination, majority of those who appeared in the test in the Guwahati Centre were from outside the State. It may be mentioned here that following a major controversy regarding the appearance of a large number of candidates from outside in the recent examinations for appointments in the RPF, the State Government had sought a report from the Railway authorities on the issue and the NF Railway submitted the report on February 23.
Meanwhile, NF Railway sources admitted that the failure of the candidates of Assam to appear in the examinations after applying for jobs is a very common trend and it was no different this time. In the past also, such a disturbing trend was reported in the examinations for selecting candidates for different posts.
Railway sources further said that, all over the country, around 1.60 lakh applications were rejected in the recent recruitment in the RPF and more than 99,000 of those were rejected because the applications were not received on time. More than 43,000 were rejected as the candidates did not attach three additional photographs as per the stipulation.
