Calcutta, July 28: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had last year announced that 60,000 recruitments would be made in the Group D category, but estimates submitted by departments so far have shown that the requirement is not more than 14,000.

Nabanna officials said that after all the departments submit requirement estimates, the figure was unlikely to exceed 25,000.

Mamata had announced in June last year that the government would recruit 2 lakh people, including 60,000 each in Groups C and D. Many had seen the decision as an election-driven move to woo youths by creating jobs in the government sector at a time private jobs have shrunk because of lack of industries.

While peons and sweepers largely make up the Group D category, clerks belong to the Group C cluster.

"All departments had been asked to send their requirements to the group D recruitment board. Some are yet to do so. As of now, the requirement is around 14,000. It appears that the total requirement will not cross 25,000 when all departments submit their requirements," a senior official said.

A finance department official said the recruitment announcement had been made with an eye on the Assembly elections. "There was a lack of employment opportunities because of the absence of industries. The chief minister wanted to woo unemployed youths by announcing a large number of government jobs," the official said.

While the government is yet to begin recruitments in the Group C cadre, it has initiated steps to hire people in the Group D category.

Nabanna sources said Mamata's job-creation announcement was similar to the Left's populist drive after coming to power in 1977.

"The Left Front government had recruited around 50,000 employees in gram panchayats and shouldered the responsibility of paying the salaries of teachers of state-aided schools. This created a huge financial burden," an official said. Before the early 80s, school managing committees used to pay the salaries of teachers.

According to finance department officials, the state government now spends about Rs 43,000 crore annually on salaries and pensions of its staff.

The officials said if the government recruited more people than the requirement, it would strain the exchequer further.

Finance department estimates suggest that if 60,000 Group D employees are recruited, the government will have to shell out Rs 66 crore a month to pay salaries. Each Group D employee gets around Rs 11,000 a month.

The Nabanna sources said the actual requirement in the Group D category was debatable as many vacant posts had lost relevance.

"Posts of pankha-pullers and copiers have lost relevance as there are fans and Acs. Photocopy machines have replaced copiers," an official said.

Moreover, computers have made the job of peons carrying files and letters from one table to another redundant.

The sources said this is the reason why the requirements sent by various departments was much lower than the number of vacancies on paper.