Non-Oriya recruitment in ECoR rocks Orissa Assembly

Bhubaneswar,Mar 18 (UNI) The Orissa Assembly today witnessed furore over the non appointment of Oriyas in class three and four grade in the East Coast Railways(ECoR).

Members, cutting across party lines, urged Deputy Speaker Prahallad Dora to initiate steps and ensure that the local people were given preference in the recruitment.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour through a special mention government Chief Whip Kishore Mohanty said ECoR was recruiting employees for the class three and four posts from outside the state ignoring the eligible youths of the state.

Mr Mohanty said the maximum number of non-Oriyas given jobs in the ECoR division in the state were from Bihar, the home state of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, followed by West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The non-Oriya, he said, were given job under discretionary quota system.

Pradeep Maharathy (BJD) appealed to the chair to move a motion in the House, while Rabi Narayan Naik (BJP) wanted the Deputy Speaker to give his ruling as to why the non-Oriyas were favoured.

Tara Prasad Bahinipati(Cong) said the Oriyas were discriminated and neglected not only by the Railways, but also by various Public Sector Undertakings. He urged the Deputy Speaker to direct the Transport department to ensure that the Oriyas were given priority in job.

Saroj Kumar Samal(BJD) said the Railways despite getting the maximum revenue from Orissa neglecting the state in various field.

Mahesh Sahu (BJP) urged the government to launch an economic blockade to protest the injustice meted out to the state by the Railways and the Centre.

Expressing concern over the alleged discrimination shown to the Oriyas in employment in Railways, Kalpataru Das (BJD) demanded the government to publish a white paper stating the number of Oriyas serving in the Railways inside the state.

The House witnessed commotion for few minutes when Opposition Congress members took exception to the discussion on the Railways through a series of special mention by the treasury bench members.

Congress Chief Whip S B Sahu rushed into the well demanding a full fledged discussion and immediately served a notice for a motion in this regard.

Congress Deputy Leader Narashingh Mishra, rising on a point of order, alleged that the Tresury bench members were misusing the rules of the House making it a ''tamasa'' by raising special mentions without prior information.

He asked the treasury bench members not to hoodwink the people and understand the spirit of the discussion.

Sensing the mood of the Opposition Congress members,the Deputy Speaker switched over to the adjournment motion.

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