Candidates belonging to the 1998 DSC batch, who have been waiting for a job for the last 25 years, staged a protest at Dharna Chowk in Vijayawada on August 16 (Wednesday).
Speaking to the media, E. Sreenivasulu said that the protestors comprised 1998 DSC candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes, physically handicapped and women categories.
He said Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, during his padayatra in the run-up to the 2029 elections, had promised that jobs would be given to qualified candidates if he came to power.
“In July 2022, the government invited online applications from the qualified candidates and completed the process of certificate verification. But it did not follow the rule of reservation while appointing the candidates, leaving 2,326 candidates from eight districts in the State high and dry,” said Mr. Sreenivasulu.
He said 4,072 of the total 6,754 candidates whose certificates were verified were given jobs in the open merit category, while 2,326 candidates including 1,021 BCs, 652 SCs and 653 OC candidates from Kadapa, Kurnool, Prakasam, Guntur, East and West Godavari, Nellore and Krishna districts were deprived of jobs.
Mr. Sreenivasulu said after an endless wait, the candidates were forced to resort to a protest to draw the attention of the Chief Minister to their problems.
The protesters urged the government to do the needful at the earliest.
