Image used for representative purpose.

ALLAHABAD: Professional degree holders like MBAs and engineers figure on a list of 1.10 lakh applicants eyeing 119 posts of contractual sweepers in Uttar Pradesh's Allahabad, underlining rising unemployment levels, insecurities of private jobs and migration hassles.

No educational qualifications are required for the job that involves cleaning streets with brooms, maintaining drainage and municipal sewer lines. Applicants should only know how to read and write and understand the local language, says Allahabad municipal corporation.

The deluge of applications-925 for one post that pays Rs 17,000 a month-also indicates that states are producing many more engineers and MBAs than required.Chairman of the recruitment committee Shesh Mani Pandey, said, "We are surprised to see that mostly highly qualified candidates have applied." The civic body advertised the posts in July. The last date for sending applications was August 13. On August 14, people from the Valmiki community staged a demonstration in Banda district demanding that these posts be reserved only for them.

