No running away from heat
On the day of the incident, the closest Met stations recorded a maximum temperature of 34–38 °C, along with a relatively high humidity (45 per cent), exacerbating the impact of the heat.
The Sikkim Subject Committee has demanded an inquiry into the alleged recruitment of “non-locals” in various government departments in the state. Stressing on how the last such inquiry was conducted in 1984, SSC vice-convener Nawin Kiran Pradhan has asserted they would this time around take “legal, political and social recourse,” if the state government failed to set up an inquiry committee on the matter.
“It is high time that the state government set up an inquiry committee on the recruitment of persons who do not hold the Sikkim Subject and Certificate of Identification in the various government exigencies in the state. We have been informed by various sources that employment is being given to non-locals at various sectors of the government,” Mr Pradhan said.
“The rate of unemployment in Sikkim is alarming. It has one of the highest unemployment rates at 136 per 1000 unemployed as per the Central Labour Ministry survey of 2013,” he told the media at the Sikkim Subject Committee office at Sisa Golai here on Thursday.
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The committee has also petitioned Governor Shriniwas Patil on the issue. “When the Supreme Court of India has upheld the Sikkim Government Establishment Rules 1974 in the case of Surendra Prasad Sharma vs State of Sikkim in 1994, how can Rule 4 (4) dealing with the appointment of service for the government of Sikkim be violated or overlooked by the various appointing authorities of the state?
The rule clearly indicates that non-Sikkimese nationals may be appointed only when suitably qualified and experienced Sikkimese nationals are not available,” Mr Pradhan said.
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