“What did that officer get by beating my hopes? I have said many times that I may not be able to write another PSC test and get into the rankings. Yet it has put my life in the balance…’ Nisha Balakrishnan, a resident of Chawara, who was brutalized by the urban affairs director officer who reported the vacancy at midnight on the day of the ranking deadline, broke and he cried.
Nisha was ranked 696 in the LD employee rankings for various departments in Ernakulam district. The ranking which took effect on March 31, 2015 expired on March 31, 2018. A few days earlier, the vacancy in Kochi Corporation (NJD vacancy) is notified to the director of urban affairs on the 28th. Nisha and other candidates in the ranking were present when this email went to the Office of the Director of Urban Affairs.
The employee of the institutional section of the office implored Binuraj to report the vacancy to the PSC today. ‘Let’s do it’ was the reply. I went back hoping for that answer. 29 and 30 public holidays. Even when I called him several times on the 31st, he didn’t say anything else. I could not even imagine that so much cruelty was hidden inside. He sent a mail to the Ernakulam district PSC officer noting the vacancy at exactly midnight that day to settle his grievance. According to the records, he arrived at the PSC office on 12.04. I lost hope in that technique…’ Nisha’s words caught in her throat.
“As far as I know, I haven’t done anything wrong. During the previous government, aspirants went on hunger strike and went on an indefinite strike on the steps of the Secretariat demanding the nomination. Most of the government offices in the capital, I and others went up and down the pandal of hunger. I’ve gone at least a hundred times, knowing that most vacancies would be reported by the office of the director of urban affairs. ‘The plan is to come to the capital and starve…?’ This was the question of some officials when I went there. That fight wasn’t against anyone, it was just for a job for a living…’ says Nisha.
Then PSC member R. Parvathi Devi (wife of Minister V. Sivankutty) was met and given all the information. Nisha also says the application was rejected saying there was opposition at the PSC meeting.
