Job scam in SCCL?

​Asifabad: The long-cherished dream of coal miners of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) to secure employment for their kin is going to be fulfilled after a 15-year ban on hereditary jobs.

SCCL banned the system in 2002 and revived the scheme in November last year following the suggestion by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.

But along with this decision, unethical recruiting practices have crept in. As per the decision, the heirs of present SCCL workers and also their relatives can apply for these jobs. The applicant should be aged between 18 and 35 years.

However much to the surprise of many, the middlemen are seen deciding who should apply for job as a successor and are fixing a price for it.

If a worker had no successor, then the mediators are putting up the job for sale for about Rs 20 lakh. If the aspirant agrees, then he will be made to apply as the successor of a particular worker.

It is rather shocking to know that about 3,915 such applications have been submitted which became a hectic task for the Singareni officials to deal with.

After going through the irregularities, SCCL made it mandatory that the workers seeking jobs to their son/son-in-law, must produce their marriage/family photo along with surety of two other workers working in Singareni Collieries.

The organisation announced that the workers, who have one year service after October 11, 2014, could apply for the hereditary jobs.

However, the fake successors paying a whopping amount of Rs 20 lakh has became a hot topic among workers in Adilabad, Mancherial, Peddapalli, Kothagudem and Bhupalpalli Jayashankar districts.

Aspirants are also showing interest in taking up the job as the salaries of workers of SCCL are equal to that of a government employee.

But there is a shortage of workers since most of the successors have joined other jobs or have crossed 40 years of age, which is encouraging this exchange of job for such a huge amount.

However, the recent changes made in the process of filling up of jobs in Singareni Collieries will prevent such illegal activities.

SCCL authorities made it mandatory for the job aspirants to produce Aadhaar card, to confirm that he is a member of family of retiring employee. The aspirants are also told to produce a group photo with his family.

IRIS (Institutional Research Information Service) is another tool which could bring in transparency eliminating fake members of retiring employees.

Speaking to The Hans India, an employee Prabhakar said they were happy as this initiative would bring transparency in the recruitments and maintain company’s pride.

“I appreciate the authorities for taking such bold measures which will prove beneficial and give the job to the right legal successor in the years to come,” he added.

By: Srinivas Vyas