Kudumbashree to manage Vytilla hub

Kochi: After its successful tie-up with the Railways and the Kochi Metro, Kudumbashree Mission has now been entrusted with the security and housekeeping tasks of the Vytilla Mobility Hub, frequented by thousands of commuters daily.

“We have officially forayed into the security sector with this. Kudumbashree took part in the tender process and was selected after quoting the lowest amount. Males from families of our women members were selected through a proper recruitment process and deployed for the security job,” Ragesh K R, Kudumbashree Mission Co-ordinator, Ernakulam, told DC.

A total of 48 personnel have been deployed at the Hub -- 24 male staff for ensuring security and control of vehicles while the remaining are women members entrusted with the housekeeping job.

“Though Kudumbashree is a self-help group for women, we decided to appoint their male family members for the first time on an experimental basis. We were asked by the Hub Society to take part in the selection process following our good performance with the Kochi Metro,” said Dilraj K R, Project Manager, Kudumbashree Facility Management Centre (FMC).

The development has come as a blessing for the Vytilla Mobility Hub Society (VMHS) as there were numerous passenger complaints over hygiene of infrastructure there, especially that of toilet complexes.  “We had given a warning to the earlier contractor but when things didn’t improve, the contract was terminated and a tender for new agencies floated. We are happy that the Kudumbashree took up the tasks,” said a senior VMHS official.

Kudumbashree has equipped the employees with its own cleaning products and the feed-back registry kept at the Hub now has complimentary messages from the commuters.