Moradabad: It's a reality check for a ruling party which is headed to polls in a few months from now on a development plank.

Applicants for the post of sweeper in the municipal corporation of Moradabad were on Thursday made to clean sewage drains to show proof of their physical fitness.

“Those who were shortlisted for the interview were asked to get down in the drain and display their skills in cleaning the sewage or clean the road with a broom,” said Ajit Saini an applicant.

Over five lakh people,some of them engineers and MBAs, applied for 3140 vacancies of sweeper in the municipal corporations of Lucknow and Moradabad - a grim reminder of chronic unemployment in the state.

Participants in this 'practical test' said some engineers were among them those made to clean the drains, and that authorities were merely exploiting them by getting some work done.

While local activists hit out, Moradabad Commissioner Sanjay Singh defended the 'test'saying: “There were 58,000 applicants. And to shortlist candidates we had asked them to clean the drains with all the safety equipment.”