Recruitment at South Goa Collectorate: Row over cellphone numbers written on postal intimations of candidates

MARGAO
The process of recruitment for the 147 posts of Jr Stenographers, LDCs, Talathis and Multi-Tasking Staff (MTS) by the South Goa Collectorate is back in the news, again for the wrong reasons.

If the move to send intimations of written/skill tests on the incomplete address of the candidates had brought the Collectorate in sharp focus, district Collectorate officials latest move to mail the intimations via the post with “mobile numbers” of the candidates on the letters has triggered a row of sorts.

In fact, questions are being raised in the corridors of the post offices whether the district Collectorate officials now expect the postmen to call up the candidates on their mobile numbers to deliver the mail on the incomplete address.

Consumer rights activists as well as postal staff in private maintained that the move to mention the mobile numbers on the intimation has thrown up a question whether the Collectorate officials and staff expect the postman to make the mobile call.

It is feared that the move may further overburden the postal services, which is already short staffed.

GOACAN Coordinator, Roland Martins feared that the letters will be returned from the village based Branch Post Office with the endorsement “incomplete address” to Margao Head Post, which in turn has to return it to the Sender which is the South Goa Collectorate.

He added: “As other modes of communication like phone calls, email and WhatsApp message are being resorted to in order to intimate the candidates on the examination date, it would have been prudent not to post letters with incomplete addresses.”

Martins said GOACAN will raise the issue of “posting letters with incomplete addresses” with the Post Master General (Goa Region) on World Post Day ie. October 9.

Incidentally, when The Goan asked the concerned officials in the South district Collectorate to shed light on the exercise of mentioning mobile numbers of candidates on the intimation letter, sources said the decision was taken to facilitate the postmen to contact the candidates in the event they found it difficult to locate them on the incomplete address. “The incomplete address is an issue in the urban towns wherein the postman may find it difficult to deliver the intimations to the candidate. In such a situation, it was thought that the candidate’s mobile will come in handy for the postman to deliver the mail at the doorsteps of the candidates,” the official said.

The official, however, hastened to add that officials of the South Goa district Collectorate have adopted other modes such as e-mails, SMS message and calling up the candidates individually to intimate them about the written/skills tests. “Though the postal authorities were not formally kept in the loop, we have had informal discussions with postal authorities on measures to tide over the problem in respect of the incomplete address of the candidates. Hence, the mobile numbers of the candidates were mentioned on the intimations,” the official said.

“We have already intimated the candidates for the post of Jr Stenographers and LDCs about the dates of the written examination, which started on Friday. Now, we are on the job to intimate the candidates for the post of Talathis and MTS, where examinations are scheduled on October 8 and 15 respectively,” the official added.