Date:11/03/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/03/11/stories/2007031120360500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Hundreds queue up for lineman posts

Staff Reporter

GREAT EXPECTATIONS: Aspirants stand in line to collect applications for lineman posts at BESCOM office in Bangalore on Saturday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Bangalore: Several hundred people formed a queue outside the head office of the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) on Saturday, waiting for their turn to pick up the application form for the post of linemen.

A senior BESCOM official told The Hindu that more than 1,500 applications were issued on Saturday.

"Today being a government holiday, we decided to issue them for the sake of the applicants. We will be issuing the applications on Sunday also," he said.

The rush for the applications peaked on Saturday because it was a government holiday.

"In the Bangalore division, only 200 posts are on offer. We have had a good response."

The official said BESCOM had urged the KPTCL, the authority that issues the applications, to make the forms available online.

He also said that BESCOM would explore the possibility of publishing the application form as an advertisement in the newspapers, especially non-English newspapers, which the candidates could cut out and fill in.

Incidentally, the CET Cell is helping BESCOM in the recruitment drive.

"The CET Cell is taking care of printing the applications, distributing it to the different divisions and even helping us process them. Other than the fact that candidates need to stand in queue for the application and fill it out by hand, the other procedures are all computerised," he added.