Angered by delay in appointments, 200 MPSC candidates sit on hunger strike

More than 200 candidates, who are awaiting their appointments to posts of engineer at the water resources and the public works departments even eight months after the Maharashtra Public Service Commission announced the results, began a two-day chain hunger strike at Azad Maidan on Wednesday.

Despite fulfilling all the requirements, including document verification, character verification and medical test, the state government is yet to issue them appointment letters, the agitators said, adding the delay has caused financial and mental distress to them.

Amol Jadhav, one of the candidates, said, “We are demanding immediate appointments. The government is not paying attention to our demands due to which some candidates are facing mental trauma. Hence, we are forced to stage the chain hunger strike.”

The Maharashtra government had on March 18, 2020, released an advertisement for 217 Group A and Group B (gazetted) posts in the public works department and the water resources department. After conducting preliminary and mains in March and December 2021 respectively, the final results were declared on August 12, 2022.

The delay has raised questions about the government’s commitment to creating jobs and providing opportunities to the youth, Ketan Partani, another candidate, said. “This has caused frustration and disappointment. We invested our time and effort in preparing for the exam.”

Jadhav said the candidates are hoping the government will take cognisance of their situation and take necessary action. “The government’s failure to act could cause more harm to the candidates’ mental and financial well-being and would also have long-term implications for the government’s credibility and commitment to job creation.”

In 2019, a candidate from the same cadre had died by suicide as he was unable to take the stress caused by the delay in appointment, a protester said.