The State Cabinet’s green signal to open six sub-regional transport offices (SRTOs) in the State, including two in Kozhikode district, has raised hopes that the workload in the existing offices will reduce, but the staff pattern approved by the government has dampened the spirits of the staff unions.
The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Motor Vehicles Department’s proposal for opening six SRTOs — at Nanmanda and Perambra in Kozhikode, Vellarikundu in Kasaragod, Thripayar in Thrissur, Iritty in Kannur and Kattakkada in Thiruvananthapuram. It also sanctioned 60 permanent posts and 12 part-time posts.
The creation of six new SRTOs had in fact been announced by Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac in his Budget speech in 2017, but it had not been followed up with action.
Though the MVD staff feel relieved that the new offices will cut down the huge workload at their offices, the staff pattern is a dampener.
The Kerala Motor Vehicles Staff Association pointed out that the staff allotted to each of the new SRTOs was just half of what had been asked for.
The Cabinet has approved only one joint regional transport officer, one motor vehicles inspector (MVI), two assistant MVIs, three clerks, one superintendent and one typist. Each office may appoint an attender and a driver on contract.
“The staff pattern of 10 posts is quite inadequate to meet the rising demand for MVD services,” Jyothi Chandran, treasurer of the Kerala Motor Vehicles Department Staff Association, told The Hindu.
