Ahead of their April 7 meeting with Mamata Banerjee at the Netaji Indoor Stadium, a group of “untainted” candidates on Sunday underwent a screening process at Shaheed Minar Maidan to ensure the “tainted” ones are sieved out.
As many as 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff appointments made by the Bengal SSC in 2016 were invalidated by the Supreme Court on April 3.
Dhritish Mondal, who addressed the press conference that began at 5pm, said Mamata must ensure alternative jobs for the “untainted” ones. Mondal further added that they would disrupt the meeting if any of the “tainted” candidates manage to make it to the meeting with the chief minister. Further pressing on their collective demand, Mondal also threatened mass suicide if alternative jobs were not provided.
33-year-old Shibashish Chattopadhyay, formerly an assistant teacher at West Bengal Government High School until the verdict day, said, “All people gathered here are waiting for their screening so they can attend the meeting with the chief minister. We are helping to make sure the correct people end up at the meeting."
Hundreds gathered at the congregation. While some queued up for the formalities, the others waited for their turn while being seated in huddles. The screening process was categorised into districts and zones. The candidates were required to produce their admit cards along with the OMR sheets to prove their eligibility. Shibhashis claims to be one of the eligible one who cleared the SSC exam in 2016.
Ezaj Ahmed, economics teacher at Dum Dum KLS Hindi Vidyalaya has high hopes from Monday’s meeting. He said, “I hope our jobs are restored because we are suffering from corruption that has nothing to do with us. We are all genuine candidates."
On April 5, Suvendu Adhikari met some of the teachers whose jobs were invalidated and promised them legal support.
The leader of the opposition, on a visit to Ranaghat in Nadia district, alleged that West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is responsible for the situation faced by these 'untainted' qualified candidates of the 2016 recruitment test.
The jobless people claimed that the reason behind their plight was the inability of the School Service Commission, which appointed them, to differentiate between the candidates who secured employment through fraudulent means and those who did not.
Adhikari assured the teachers that they should keep going to their schools as they are not tainted and urged them to file writ petitions individually.
"Today I met 20-25 teachers, many of them women. They are heartbroken. I told them the law is on your side. Truth is on your side. I said we will give you legal support,” the Nandigram BJP MLA said.