PANJIM: In a major relief for the temporary employees attached with the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG), the State government has assured regularizing their service in the upcoming cabinet decision. 

Speaking on the floor of the House on the concluding day of the Budget session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar also assured to accommodate the sacked employees subject to requirement in the ongoing recruitment drive. 

“Those on contract period for seven years and above will be made permanent employees. We will take a cabinet decision,” he responded to a starred question jointly tabled by MLA Glenn Ticlo. 

During the discussion, another BJP legislator Kiran Kandolkar pointed out to the government rules that regularize the services of employees who have completed five years of their contractual period. 

To a supplementary question demanding to know whether the 145 sacked employees would be reinstated, the minister referred to the ongoing recruitment drive that also saw the former applying for the posts.

“We advertised for 12 posts. We will accommodate candidates as per the requirement,” he informed the House adding, “In the written test, we gave relaxation to these employees wherein they could qualify for the next round if they achieve 50 percent results while the fresh candidates have to compulsorily get 70 percent,” Tawadkar assured to fill in the 75 advertised posts by April-end. 

In his reply, he charged the former government of recruiting candidates in the Sports departments without any Recruitment Rules in place. “It took us one and half year to prepare the RR,” he commented adding the government is recruiting fresh batch based on the existing infrastructure. 

Over a year ago, the 145 employees were sacked from the jobs for the very reason that the department’s infrastructure could not handle the overburdening of the employees.