Title - 11,000 from Hubli, Dharwad take SWR recruitment test

The South Western Railway, which is facing staff shortage, is conducting written examinations to select candidates for the vacant Group-D posts in the railway zone as part of its much-delayed recruitment process.On Sunday, it conducted the examination for the first batch of candidates at Hubli, Dharwad, Bangalore and Mysore centres.In Hubli, hundreds of job aspirants turned up from various part of north Karnataka.Because of the huge number of candidates appearing for the examination, the Railway Recruitment Board decided to conduct them over six consecutive Sundays, starting May 6.As many as 1.5 lakh candidates have applied for the 3,007 Group-D posts in various categories of the zone.According to sources in the Railway Recruitment Cell of the zone, 28,000 candidates were issued call letters for the examination conducted on Sunday. The centres in Hubli and Dharwad alone accounted for 11,000 candidates, the sources said.Sunday's examination was part of the recruitment drive that SWR initiated based on the employment notification to fill up 3,007 Group-D posts in the three divisions of the zone, workshops and extra-divisional offices of the South Western Railway and Rail Wheel Factory, Yelahanka, Bangalore.

Not yet complete

The South Western Railway is yet to complete the process of recruitment of Group-D employees in various categories which was initiated in 2007. The drive was delayed due to various agitations and violent protests seeking reservation for Kannadigas, but was subsequently resumed in 2011.

The recruitment process is now in the final stages of issuing posting orders.