Kerala: Goof-up hits job prospects of many

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: About 2,800 candidates shortlisted eight months back after taking the written test and interview for worker’s vacancies in textile mills under the Kerala State Textile Corporation (KSTC) are running from pillar to post to get their hands on the job. But now what has added to their woes is a reply they got from the Chief Minister’s Office on a memorandum.  In an administrative goof-up, the CM’s Office forwarded their memorandum to the Minister for Transport and Devaswom when it should have been sent to the Industries Minister’s office. “The officials mistook the acronym KSTC as Kerala State Road Transport Corporation, which in fact is Kerala State Textile Corporation. The acknowledgment letter sent from the CM’s Office asked us to contact the office of Minister for Transport and Devaswom and also gave a complaint number 4979/11/CM for future reference,” says Jayakumar, president of the association formed by the shortlisted candidates.The rank list is yet to be  published.  These candidates have formed the KSTC Short-List Rankholders Association, to press their cause. “The reply I got from the CM’s Office is a total embarrassment to all of us. It shows that the officials sitting there did not even go through the memorandum,” Jayakumar says.The tests and interviews were conducted to fill 599 vacancies in Balarampuram Spinning Mill, Thiruvananthapuram; Komalapuram Spinning and Weaving Mill, Alappuzha; Weaving Mill, Pinarayi, Kannur; and Uduma Textile Mills, Kasargod. Last month, to a question by Uduma MLA K Kunjiraman in the  Assembly, Industries Minister P K Kunhalikkutty had said the selection of the candidates have been entrusted with the Kerala State Productivity Council. The minister said 20 vacancies in the Udama mill was filled by the agency from the rank list but it was not published yet.  “We belong to the low income group and this was a job that we all were looking up to. Once we were shortlisted, KSTC officials told us in February that since the Assembly election date had been announced, the new recruitment will only take place after a new government is formed.  But till now nothing as happened. We have approached all officials concerned and submitted a memorandum to Industries Minister, Labour Minister and Chief Minister,” says Anil Das K, from Chirainkezhu, Thiruvananthapuram.