Bhawanipatna: Tension prevailed here after hundreds of unemployed trained CT and DIET students from Kalahandi district closed the gate of the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) and staged a demonstration over certificate verification of candidates from outside of the district for Sikhya Sahayak appointments Monday.
The agitation continued from 8 am till 4 pm. The job-seekers resented the state government’s move to appoint candidates from outside of the district. The agitators reportedly did not allow candidates coming from other districts to enter into the DIET office for certification verification.
Collector Anjan Kumar Manik rushed sub-collector Suryanarayan Dash, ASP Akshya Kumar Das and SDPO Biranchi Prasad Dehuri to the spot. The officers ensured that the law and order situation didn’t go out of hands.
Meanwhile, the candidates from other districts blocked the Bhawanipatna-Junagarh road at Naktiguda Square. They relented after police intervened.
However, the job seekers from other districts had to return without getting their certificates verified in the DIET office. The local candidates had a series of face-offs with over 3,000 job aspirants and guardians coming from outside of the district.
A total of 3,835 shortlisted candidates from in and outside of the district had applied for 1,605 (553 posts for BSc BEd, 374 BA BEd, 506 Plus Two Science CT and 272 Plus Two Arts CT) Sikshya Sahayaks posts in Kalahandi district.
The district Sarva Sikhya Abhiyan authorities had invited the candidates for certificate verification to the DIET office for three days starting January 29.
The agitators said aspirants from the district have been waiting for the Sikhya Sahayak jobs for the last six years.
The state government, however, made the appointments statewide enabling candidates from other districts to apply for the post in Kalahandi. This led to resent among the local job seekers. PNN
