The kin of the AP State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) employees who died while in service between 2016 and 2019 and were promised jobs on compassionate grounds under the Bread-winner Scheme (BWS) wait endlessly for their appointment orders.
There are 725 dependents of the deceasedRTCemployees who have applied for jobs. “We were called for interviews in 2019 and our original certificates that were taken for verification are still with theRTCauthorities, but we have not received our appointment letters in the last five years,” says K.Annamaiah, who is seeking a job in theRTCwhere his father worked as ashramik(helper) and died in 2016.DasarathRamaiah’sfather died instantly at a depot when an apprentice reversed a bus without noticing him and ran the vehicle over him. Mr.Ramaiahstaged a protest at the site and he was promised by the authorities that one of his family members would be given a job within four days. The assurance has not been fulfilled yet.Nagamani’shusband suffered a major heart stroke while he was behind the wheel navigating his vehicle through the ghat road inTirupatiin 2018. Even in pain, he managed to park the vehicle to safety before dying. “I did not look for another job since I was promised a job in theRTC,” she says.“In the hope of getting a job in theRTC, we desisted from joining any other work and now, the management says that only the kin of the employees who died ofCOVID-19during 2020-21 would be appointed on compassionate grounds,” laments Mr.Annamaiah.A.Harshavardhan, whose father A.VenkataRao, died in 2016 while serving theRTC, is aB.Techgraduate but has kept himself idle as rules mandate that the ‘dependents’ seeking jobs should not be employed anywhere. He has also kept his marriage on hold to get his appointment order first.The applicants have been running from pillar to post to apprise the authorities of their mounting financial woes because of the inordinate delay in their appointments.
Govt. nod awaited
“We have forwarded the proposal to the government and an approval is awaited,” says the corporation’s Executive Director (Administration) A.KoteswaraRao.But sources in theRTCattribute the delay to many reasons. Most applicants fit into the role of conductors and there are no vacant posts in this category. “In fact, we have an excess number of conductors as there have been no retirements in the last couple of years due to increase in the retirement age,” says an official.Appointments on compassionate grounds are made out of ‘grace’ and it is not the ‘right’ of the employee,” says another source, adding that the government was willing to apply the rule only to the employees who died in the last two yearsi.e. after the employees were merged with the government in a newly-created wing called Public Transport Department (PTD). The 725 employees, whose kin are seeking jobs now, were in the corporation.
