Though the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike is up in arms against the Railways for not giving adequate number of jobs to Kannadigas, the Railway authorities maintain that the exams are not held on regional or linguistic basis.
The Vedike’s ongoing protests started with the recruitment of 4,700 Group-D employees for the posts of  Khalasi, porter and gangman. The KRV men feared that since around 30,000 North Indians were appearing for the examination, the chances are that ‘outsiders’ would grab a large share of the total number of vacancies.
Railway officials said around 6 lakh people have applied for the job. They, however, refused to give region-wise break-up. “This is not a regional level examination but an all-India examination where everyone is free to appear and get jobs,” said Dasarathi, Chief Public Relation Officer (CPRO) of South Western Railway. But the KRV claims that nearly  30,000 north Indians, mainly Biharis, had arrived in Bangalore to appear for the examination.
“We fear that only five to six per cent Kannadigas would get jobs, while Biharis will grab 85 to 90 per cent of the vacancies,” said KRV President Narayana Gowda, under whose leadership his supporters are spearheading the movement across Karnataka.
‘Transparent exam’
CPRO Dasarathi on the other hand refuted all the charges. The exams are ‘very transparent, free and fair in all the venues like Hubli, Bangalore and Mysore. To ensure transparency, the entire exercise (Physical Efficiency Test) is being videographed through CCTVs. Three large digital clocks are installed at each venue to ensure transparency in the timing, which the candidates can also see. The registration is through computerisation system. The systems installed are foolproof and do not permit any kind of discrimination or favouritism against any of the candidates,” he said.
He added that one-and-a-half page advertisements were published in the major newspapers of the state in the last week of July last year. “We had published advertisements in eight local Kannada newspapers besides some national level English dailies,” said Dasarathi.
In reply, Narayana Gowda said in many areas the Railways had inserted advertisements in little-known Kannada dailies. “Even the medium of exam is either Hindi or English, which 8th class pass candidates from remote parts of the State could not answer. Why not have Kannada as a medium as well,” he asked.
Dasarathi said the examination could be written in Kannada also. However, there is no way to check whether the selected candidate has knowledge of the local language to discharge his official duties.
Manpower shortage
Sources in the Railways said  there are merely 10 to 12 per cent Kannadigas in the SWRs. “Out of  31,730 employees, hardly 3,500 to 4000 are Kannadigas.”
“The creation of smaller zones was done only to create better opportunity for local people. If that purpose is not served, what is the use? Is it merely to create top-level jobs,” questioned the sources.
The top rank officers want jobs to be given to local people on priority basis. “We are fed up with the requests for transfers. Once  in the job, employees keep begging for transfer to their native place. Manpower shortage is a constant challenge,” said a top rank Railway officer.