Shillong, May 23: The Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) on Tuesday sought the intervention of the chief minister Conrad K Sangma to urge the Centre to amend the draft model notification of the Department of Post by prescribing knowledge of local language in addition to Hindi and English for engagement as Gramin Dak Sevaks in the state.

In a letter to the Chief Minister, FKJGP president Dundee C Khongsit said, “Therefore, in the best interest of our local educated unemployed youth, I would earnestly seek your kind intervention to urge the Ministry of Communication, Government of India to amend the draft model notification of the Department of Posts by prescribing knowledge of one of the languages of any of the three major tribes of Meghalaya as local language in addition to Hindi and English for engagement as Gramin Dak Sevaks in our State as is done in other North East states of Assam, Manipur and Mizoram.”

“Since the recruitment process for the above mentioned posts is likely to commence immediately, we would request for your kind and timely intervention on the matter so that our local youth are not deprived of employment opportunities in the Department of Posts as has happened in the past,” he added.

This came after the Ministry of Communication, Department of Posts, Government of India has decided to recruit 445 Gramin Dak Sevaks, Branch Post Masters and Assistant Branch Post Masters for posting in post offices across Meghalaya for which the recruitment process is likely to take place very soon.

“Since, the draft model notification of Department of Posts has prescribed Hindi or English as the local language for engagement of Gramin Dak Sevaks, we feel that this criteria will deprive the chances of local youth to avail this employment opportunity as· they have to compete with candidates from outside the State who normally score better in these languages, especially Hindi,” Khongsit said.