Nearly 250 workers employed on an outsourced basis with the Sri Venkateswara University are now staring at a bleak future after the varsity decided to terminate its contract with the manpower supplying firm.
The contract staff were working for the last six to eight years as sanitation workers, security guards, technical assistants, attenders and canteen workers. Though the government’s decision to scrap the individual manpower vendors and launch the A.P. Outsourcing Corporation was apparently to bring in uniformity in recruitment of services, the guidelines lacked clarity on whether universities come under the ambit of the new corporation.
In spite of confusion reigning over the issue, the government communicated to the varsity to do away with the vendor organisations, rendering the workers jobless.
“We have scrapped the vendor system and are migrating to a new system, hence this temporary hassle. Once the existing workers apply through the corporation, they will be retained in the same jobs,” SVU Registrar Sridhar Reddy clarified to The Hindu . However, the varsity is waiting for guidelines from the Collectorate and the department of higher education on whether universities come under the new outsourcing policy, before utilising the services of the workers.
Meanwhile, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) came down heavily over the decision and demanded that status quo be maintained. TDP State vice-president and former TUDA Chairman G. Narasimha Yadav alleged that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had promised to regularise the services of outsourced staff, but is now showing them the door after winning the elections. “The YSRCP had promised to bring in new jobs, but the government is instead culling existing jobs,” he charged.
The university is reportedly grappling for manpower to take care of trivial jobs and has started utilising the services of the hostel staff, who are currently without any work as the campus is empty.
