THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Of the 4,051 PSC-advised candidates posted as KSRTC conductors, 1,472 have been appointed as reserve conductors on Friday. On the first day, a majority of the recruits were posted in depots away from their home unit. KSRTC CMD Tomin J Thachankary has directed to provide temporary licences to the new conductors so they can join immediately.
The process to verify the advice memo, qualification and other documents of the recruits was conducted at the Transport Bhavan on Thursday. As many as 4,051 candidates from the PSC list were asked to join KSRTC after the HC order to post them by replacing the empanelled conductors. The CMD mentioned a monthly temporary conductor licence will be issued to the new recruits.
“The temporary licence is being provided with the authority of the MD’s special power as a solution to the current crisis,” said Thachankary. The MD also warned new employees should not fall into the old habits of taking leave and going for other jobs after joining KSRTC. “If the reserve conductors have plans to join here and go for other jobs then they need not join. Only those candidates willing to work here for at least three years should accept the appointment order,” said the CMD.
As per the appointment order, his/her initial appointment will be as reserve conductor on daily wage at the rate of 1/26 of the minimum of their basic pay (`9,940 - `21,180) in the lowest grade of conductor. They have been asked to join by Friday. To reduce the shortage of schedules, the management has decided to skip the weeklong training for the new recruits at the Staff Training College and to send them to the respective units after their appointment.
These 1,472 new appointees will be posted for their regular duties after a two-day training. Of these appointed candidates over 200 of them have asked for three months leave. The corporation is expecting another 500 more candidates to take the appointment within 45 days. Many candidates who were not able to reach the office for appointment as they were out of station have requested for extension to join duty. “They will be sent a registered post and as per the rule they have to join duty within 15 days,” said a top official of KSRTC.