Silchar, Jan. 13: A batch of 30 youths from Bihar, who were offered jobs by NF Railway for the post of trackmen, were turned away by groups of local job-seekers and unemployed young men from the engineering section of NF Railway’s area office in Badarpur.
Tension simmered for some time in the area in Karimganj district as the railway division demand committee and a local forum of the unemployed youths staged a sit-in at the station for some time yesterday afternoon, protesting against the appointments.
A spokesman for the protesters, Sukumar Ghosh, made it clear that as the posts of trackmen were grade IV jobs, only local people should be inducted. The demand committee had threatened to intensify its agitation if the railway authorities do not cancel these appointments.
The railway officials said the Railway Protection Force (RPF) was summoned when the agitation veered towards a showdown between the youths from Bihar and the local job-seekers. However, no unseemly incident occurred.
This is not the first time that youths from Bihar, seeking jobs in the railway, have faced travails in Assam. The same batch was turned away on January 8 from Harangajao railway station under North Cachar Hill district by local youths there.
The railway authorities, shifted these hapless youths to Badarpur, where, too, they came under the wrath of the local unemployed youths.