Thousands of youths upset over losing job security

By Mehboob Inamdar

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

Thousands of youths who have been preparing in the hope of getting permanent Government jobs through direct recruitment are upset as the State Government has appointed nine private agencies to supply employees in its various departments.

This means, that the employees hired through the agencies will have to work on a contract basis and have no job security. It may be noted that more than 1.50 lakh posts are vacant in different Government departments as the recruitment was pending for the past several years. The Government will recruit for 75,000 vacant posts.

A Government Resolution (GR) was issued on March 14, 2023, allotting a five-year tender to nine private agencies, including Aksentt Tech Services, CMS IT Services, Innowave IT Infrastructure, Krystal Integrated Services, S2 Infotech International, CSC e-Governance Services and Sainik Intelligence Security to supply skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers to the government. It was mentioned in the GR that the Government wants to reduce expenditure on governance by outsourcing staff to outside agencies to divert fund towards developmental projects. These agencies have been authorised to supply a wide range of workers to the various departments of the Government-project coordinator, engineer, teacher, clerk, librarian, telephone operator, driver, carpenter, gardener, lift operator, sweeper and peon.

Thousands of youths who are preparing in the hope of getting permanent Government jobs are upset about the contract.

Ajay Kamble who is preparing for the competitive examination said that the Government is adopting a policy of privatisation, which is upsetting. “Hundreds of crore are spent on the pension of MLAs, MPs. Why not this fund is diverted for development works?

It is forcing youths to take to the street. It seems that the Opposition leader will not take any stand as there is a possibility of holding one of the agencies,” he said.

Another youth Anil Patil said that the Government which stopped direct recruitment says that employee salaries and pension bill is putting an excessive burden on its treasury. “It should have privatised grade-I officers than grade-III and IV as the payscale of top officers is higher than low-grade workers,” he added.

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Contract system in Govt against interest of employees Adv Abhay Taksal, secretary of Maharashtra Kamgar Karmachair Sanghatna said that the contract system is against the interest of employees and humanity. “A worker works on a contract basis and earns Rs 8,000 monthly. The contractor who does nothing pockets Rs 7,000 from workers. Shinde Government reducing rights of employees. We condemn this decision. The posts given in the GR of March 14 are permanent in nature. This is an act of favouring loyalists and reducing salary. We will take out a mega morcha of contract employees and unemployed youths on Labour Day (May 1) to protest the decision,” he added.