THIRUVANATHAPURAM: With the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) deciding to adopt the online mode for general transfer of staff using the G-Spark software for the first time, several anomalies have cropped up. Though the KWA came up with a fresh order, employees in the engineering section cannot get a transfer within different sections in the capital city.
For over a decade now, trade unions, especially the pro-CPM Association of Kerala Water Authority Officers (AKWAO), had been demanding that general transfers be initiated through an online system. They had their own reasons for doing so as until now the practice being followed was 'might is right'. All the employees have been asked to compulsorily opt for their choice of Yes/No and also their choice of station.
The order issued on Monday by KWA managing director S Venkatesapathy created an uproar among the employees who were then urged to re-enter their options by filing an application to their office heads concerned. The order also stated that individual applications will not be considered. The revised draft transfer list for the current fiscal is scheduled to be published on July 12. According to R V Santhosh Kumar, vice-president, AKWAO, all employees should get equal justice and after the initial resistance, things will fall into place eventually.
"Though most of the anomalies have been addressed in the previous order, there are still certain issues which have to be considered. For instance, Thiruvananthapuram city has got four executive engineers and eight deputy chief engineers who will have to be transferred within the various sections. But this is missing in the revised order and the assurance given is that it will be arranged later on," Santhosh Kumar, executive engineer (quality control), told The New Indian Express.
A majority of the KWA employees are keen to see that the G-Spark software is implemented. The junior engineers, mostly women staff recruited to the KWA by the Public Service Commission from Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam, were posted at faraway places for no rhyme or reason. The new crop of nearly 191 assistant engineers, who will soon get their appointment orders, will benefit from the modernisation drive.