NLC: Annamalai writes for jobs to local people

CHENNAI: BJP state president K Annamalai has written to the Union Coal and Mines Minister to consider a standard reservation for local candidates who had foregone lands for NLC development during the new recruitment if the Ministry finds an absence of an adequate representation of locals.

Annamalai’s letter came in the wake of Chief Minister MK Stalin writing to the Prime Minister to direct the Coal Ministry to revisit the decision to adopt Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) scores for recruitment of Graduate Executive Trainees (GET) in NLC.

“The contention here is that the pre-requisite for appearing in the examination is that the candidate should have cleared the GATE,” Annamalai said, denying the Chief Minister’s claim that the GATE was made a prerequisite for appearing in GET selection for the first time.

“In the last decade, in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2018, selecting GET had a prerequisite of GATE. However, we are informed that one-year advance notice was circulated about the intent for recruitment with this pre-requisite, thus allowing participants to prepare accordingly,” he noted.

With no official data on the share of local staff in its overall strength in NLC, the animosity amongst the locals has only grown stronger, he said.

He urged the Ministry to consider reservation for locals if the Ministry finds an adequate representation after analysis.