Sagar
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar: Ranajan Kumar Mohanty (30) has been running from pillar to post to get a job on the compassionate grounds since his father, a lineman, died on duty while trying to fix an electric connection 16 years ago. His father, Arjun Charan Mohanty, was an employee of CESCO, one of the electric supply units in the state.
Mohanty is among 300 people whose relatives have died while working at different electric supply units under the department of energy in the state. However, though the state government has issued letters to respective units asking them to implement the Rehabilitation Assistance Scheme, the officials of these units are denying them jobs, they alleged.
The Orissa Civil Service (Rehabilitation Scheme) Rules, 1990, stipulate that family members of a government servant who dies while in service or retires after facing permanent incapacitation shall not face immediate distress condition.
Earlier this month, when the families of these people approached the Orissa Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC), one of the electric supply units, the corporation questioned the validity of the letter through local newspapers.
“A group of unknown persons with a fraudulent letter bearing No. 7375 dtd 11.09.2015 issued from DoE, Govt of Odisha is approaching different authorities for their appointment under Rehabilitation Assistance Scheme,” OHPC wrote in a public notice.
S Hadia Reddy, who husband was electrocuted in 2007 while working as a peon with GRID Corporation of Orissa, has for the last seven years been agitating at Lower PMG demanding a job on compassionate grounds. The fathers, husbands and brothers of several others have died while working as peons, helpers, linemen or artisans. However, so far, none of them have got a job at the department of energy.
Recently, a young man, whose father died while working as a watchman at the urban development department had brandished a knife at a secretariat official as he was not allowed to meet the secretary to enquire about his job application. The incident got coverage in media and the man was given a job. “Shall we all pick knives and intimidate secretariat officials to get our rights? Why don’t they listen when we have been peacefully protesting here for seven years?” asked Ramesh Chandra Mohanty, whose father died in 1996 while working as an artisan with GRIDCO.
