Goa Church asks BJP government to be humane

Goa, June 28, 2012: The recruitment and offer letters were given to 200 selected candidates.

Panaji: The Goa Church today asked the state government to recruit 200 field supervisors whose pre-election recruitment has caused a row.

The Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP), the social arm of the Goa archdiocese, asked the Bharatiya Janata Party government to show a “humane consideration” and appoint the supervisors in its mining and geology department.

The recruitment has created a row as the candidates were appointed by the former Congress-led government on the eve of the assembly polls held in March.

CSJP secretary Fr. Maverick Fernandes, in a letter to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, said, he denial of jobs to the candidates amounted to the violation of human rights.

“Several of the recruits after receiving the ‘Offer of Appointment’ have quit their earlier secure jobs to report for duty,” he said, adding many have families who depend on their income.

“This becomes a human rights issue as it amounts to denial of a sustainable livelihood for no fault of theirs,” the priest said.

Fr. Maverick said the recruited candidates satisfied the necessary requirements and that the previous government had followed proper hiring processes.

Amid allegations of sheltering illegal mining and deliberately weakening the mining and geology department, former chief minister Digambar Kamat had hurriedly announced the recruitment of 230 field supervisors for the mining department in February.

The recruitment and offer letters were given to 200 selected candidates.

The new government initiated a vigilance probe into the jobs by the mines and other departments as well.

Official sources say the vigilance probe was in the last stage of completion.

-newkerala.com