Ground-handling firm AI Airport Services Ltd (AIASL) said the unexpectedly large turnout of applicants for the job of loaders had led to chaotic scenes outside the recruitment venue in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Near-stampede scenes were reported as over 15,000 persons turned up to submit applications for the 1,700-plus openings for loaders at the firm’s office near Mumbai airport.
“Our HR department was expecting 8,000-10,000 applications but we received over 15,000 applications on Tuesday,” said AIASL CEO Rambabu CH.
AIASL, formerly a subsidiary of Air India, is owned by the government and provides ground-handling services to Air India and foreign carriers.
On Tuesday, the applicants who had arrived from all over Maharashtra were meant to be screened and tokens handed to qualified persons.
Following the chaos that broke out on Tuesday the firm has decided to stagger the collection of applications over a week and across various modes such as email or post for future recruitment drives, Rambabu said.
While the incident sparked off a controversy with Opposition parties targeting the government over soaring joblessness, a Shiv Sena-affiliated union accused the ground handler of mismanagement of the recruitment drive.
“After the last interview sessions in summer we had pointed out that there is no shelter outside the office and applicants have to wait for four to five hours to drop forms. No sitting arrangement or facility of drinking water was provided,” Sthaniya Lokadhikar Samiti Mahasangh general secretary Pradeep Mayekar highlighted in a letter to the ground handler on July 13.