Biswa Bhsuan Mohapatra
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar: The dreams of nearly 40,000 technical and professional graduates to get jobs through a special recruitment drive announced by the state government have been dashed as the government has decided to shelve the drive.
In 2014, skill development and technical education (SD&TE) minister Sanjay Das Burma had announced that the recruitment drive would be conducted between September 17 and 20 that year. The job fair was going to be a joint effort of the SD&TE department and Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT).
Nearly 40,000 technical and professional graduates had registered themselves by paying Rs 100 each to the government as per the rules. When the government failed to conduct the job fair on the scheduled date, it said the event has been postponed and that a new date would be announced after Diwali in 2014. But the government has made no announcement regarding the job fair since.
Sources said the government decided to shelve the job fair because it failed to rope in companies and recruiters to take part in the event during the last two years and a half. The government had planned to invite about 300 companies for the job fair, but no company reportedly showed interest in joining it.
“Companies are not showing interest in this recruitment drive because of the slowdown in the market. Most top companies, especially the steel and aluminium industries in the state, are saying that they are in a sorry state and cannot hire more professionals,” said a senior official of SD&TE department on the condition of anonymity. The companies say they usually recruit talented students through campus selection every year and ask why they should take the remaining students of the professional and technical institutes, he added.
On clicking the ‘special recruitment drive-2014’ link on the BPUT website Monday, Orissa POST found that that link has been taken off as a message – “404 – File or directory not found” – flashed on the screen after the click.
A top official of BPUT said after the special recruitment drive was shelved, plans are afoot to return the fees collected from the registered students.
Sources said the government is likely to announce a new scheme for technical and professional graduates in the state. “The government will announce the scheme very soon. It will be implemented by BPUT. Special coaching will be provided to both passed-out and final-year students by engaging the best faculty members so that students can crack GATE and similar examinations,” said a senior officer.
The government may spend about `50,000 per student under the scheme, which is likely to continue for several years. About 70 per cent of the total seats would be reserved for ex-students while the remaining for present students.
But the shelving of the job fair has raised questions about how the government failed to foresee the situation before announcing the dates.
