Govt job aspirants want GO 46 to go

Hyderabad: Government job aspirants continued their 'fast unto death' for the third day on Tuesday. The protest, led by Ashok Palakuri, founder and coach at at an academy that trains aspirants for goverment jobs for a nominal fee and provides free YouTube videos, and a prominent voice in the aspirants' struggle, had hundreds of aspirants join him demanding that the government addresses systemic issues plaguing the recruitment process. The demands ranged from increased job opportunities to timely notifications and the repeal of GO 46.

Among the protesters' grievances is the demand for an expansion in job vacancies for Group 1, 2 & 3 positions by 750, 2,000 and 3,000 respectively; the prompt issuance of exam notifications, and the conduct of the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) to ensure fairness and transparency in recruitment.

"We demand the repeal of GO 46, a contentious directive issued in April 2022 under the Telangana Public Employment (Organisation of Local Cadres and Regulations of the Direct Recruitment)," one of the aspirants, Rajashekar T., told Deccan Chronicle.

The order stipulates that 95 per cent of posts in contiguous cadres must be reserved and allocated among local candidates based on prescribed ratios. Their concerns focused on the perceived unfair advantage conferred upon candidates from urban centres like Hyderabad, potentially marginalising those from rural districts, regardless of their merit.

Meanwhile, the High Court's recent decision to lift the stay on promotions for principals of zilla parishad high schools in Multizone 2 injected a renewed sense of hope into the movement. However, Telangana United Teachers Federation directed its plea to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, urging swift action on these promotions ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. In a representation, they spoke about the pressing need to address delays in promotions for gazetted headmasters Grade-II in zilla parishad schools across Multizones I and II, citing the imminent retirements of senior school assistants on March 31.