The Railways had issued a recruitment notification in 2007 for 4,701 vacant ‘D’ grade posts and had made arrangements for the appointment process.

But the exercise had to be stopped in January 2008 after several Kannada organisations staged protests in various parts of Hubli against alleged injustice meted out to Kannadigas in appointments to the railways.

Cleanliness affected

The officials said several railway projects had come to a halt in the region due to dearth of ‘D’ grade staff, badly affecting cleanliness at railway stations.

Hence, filling vacancies for  4,701 posts was inevitable, they said. This aside, the railways will also appoint 3,007 workers in other categories, notifications for which were issued in 2010, they said.

Qualification

Regarding change in qualification requirements, the officials said an applicant for the ‘D’ grade post should have passed minimum SSLC according to  the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations.

Earlier, the minimum qualification required was Class VII pass.

The Railway Board has decided to conduct physical and written tests simultaneously in all 16 zones across the country to maintain transparency in recruitments. This will also help double the job opportunities for local people, they added.

Written tests will have multiple questions, and papers will be set in English, Hindi and Urdu languages, besides respective state languages.