A near-stampede situation ensued in Mumbai after over 25,000 job aspirants turned up to apply for a mere 2,216 vacancies at Air India Airport Services Ltd.
Videos doing rounds on social media showed thousands of people rushing to the counters for the walk-in interview for the post of handyman and utility agent. Some of the job aspirants were seen climbing on vehicles and trees to get ahead of others and reach the interview venue.
According to media reports, the job aspirants had to wait for hours without food and water for their turn, leading to many of them feeling uneasy and unwell.
The Air India staff struggled to manage the massive crowd. As the situation went out of control, the candidates were reportedly asked to leave their CVs and vacate the area.
The minimum qualification for the job is SSC/Class X pass and the salary is just over Rs 20,000. "I have come to apply for the post of handyman. They are offering a salary of Rs 22,500," NDTV quoted a job aspirant, who travelled over 400km to attend the interview, was quoted as saying.
General secretary of Aviation Industry Employees Guild, George Abram, was quoted as saying that the recruitment process was mismanaged.
Later, the airport authorities decided to call 200 applicants for interview, an official from Sahar police station said.
All the applicants were freshers and most of them had just passed Class XII.
"No untoward incident was reported and the situation was later brought under control," the official said.