Certain officials of Pakistan Railways (PR) have been accused of taking bribe from candidates seeking jobs. The officials deputed by the federal government department for the recruitment of Electronics Maintenance (EM) professionals have mostly selected and appointed candidates who are said to be associated with the ruling political party.
Candidates who have no such backing or support have to pay them huge amount of money. But all cannot make such payments, Business Recorder learnt on Monday. Twenty-year-old Zeeshan Hussain who, according to him, successfully cleared the entire recruitment process but could not get the post of Signal Maintenance Operator in PR as he failed to arrange Rs 150,000 for the PR officials. He claimed: "I passed the entry test for the post of electronics maintenance and was finally called for an interview and it was during the interview that the recruitment committee demanded money from me."
He said two-and-half months ago, advertisements appeared in a newspaper through which PR invited candidates from all over the province for electronics maintenance department. "As I was meeting the required criteria, I decided to apply and submitted registration form for the test accordingly", he said.
He said a large number of candidates appeared in the entry test while only 2500 candidates were shortlisted for the final interview. "As I reached the PR provincial headquarters for the interview, I observed that some candidates were exchanging hot words with the staffers and after a short while they left the office angrily while heaping abuses on the PR authorities," according to him.
He said as soon as he was called into the room for interview, four officers there began to offer excuses that they could not grant him job. "Meanwhile, one of them told me that I would be required to pay them Rs 150,000 for the job and directed me to arrange the amount within three days," he said.
According to him, his father is a retired person and they do not have the means to arrange this "huge amount". Despite several attempts, Fauzia Khan, Divisional Personnel Officer (DPO) Pakistan Railways Sindh Circle, who was s member of the recruitment committee, could not be reached for her comment.