Mumbai: Disqualified women fire brigade aspirants didn't meet height criterion, arrived late, says BMC

A day after several women seeking recruitment in the Mumbai fire brigade held a protest saying they were disqualified despite meeting the requirement, which led to a clash with the police, the civic body on Sunday said their applications were rejected because they neither reached the venue in time nor fulfilled the height criterion.

Women tried to enter exam hall forcibly

A video of the incident that occurred at the recruitment venue at Dahisar west on Saturday shows several angry women aspirants protesting at the site. They also tried to enter the examination centre premises forcibly, but the police lathi-charged them to control the situation.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said the recruitment drive for women in the city fire brigade began on January 13.

"On Saturday, all the candidates were asked to reach in time for the drive and whoever arrived there in time and fulfilled the height criterion were qualified for further process like ground test and physical fitness test," it said.

Those female candidates who did not meet the specified criteria, were disqualified. However, many of the candidates took advantage of the situation and tried to spread false information in the media, it said.

The entire recruitment process is being video-recorded and the incident that occurred on Saturday was also video-graphed, the civic body said.

'Whoever reached venue on time will be allowed to participate'

The BMC assured that it would examine the video footage and whoever reached the venue in time as seen in the video will be allowed to take part in the recruitment process.

More than 7,000 women aspirants were present for the recruitment drive for 273 posts. At least 3,318 of them, who fulfilled the height criterion were qualified for grounds tests, it added.