Kochi: The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has decided to "unofficially" take back a major section of empanelled employees, who were sacked three months back, and asked them to report to respective depots by Wednesday.
"We can't take them back directly since it will amount to violation of court order. Hence the empanelled staff will be deployed on leave vacancies on a daily basis. They will be paid Rs 480 for a single duty at the end of their duty hours every day," said sources.
The initiative will be a win-win situation for both parties as currently nearly 1,000 services are getting cancelled daily due to crew shortage, especially conductors. The Corporation dismissed 3, 861 empanelled conductors as per the High Court order in January. Though it sent appointment advice memos to nearly 4,000 Public Service Commission(PSC) candidates, only 1,200 reported for duty.
"An average 1,300 employees are on leave on various grounds. Even from the PSC candidates, an average 100 personnel will be on leave on a given day.
The empanelled staff should report to the depot daily and will be deployed in place of the regular staff on leave. However, no loss-making service will be resumed just to accommodate them," they said.
The decision was taken at a high-level meet convened on Monday after the government directed the Corporation to take maximum empanelled staff back.
The empanelled staff had withdrawn their strike last week following such an assurance from the government.
Meanwhile, a majority of empanelled staff, over 60 per cent, reported back at main depots like Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram Central on Tuesday evening.
"One more day is remaining and we expect 80 per cent of such staff back. Majority of them lost their only means of livelihood and many could not get permanent employment through PSC due to age restrictions," the sources said.
