Assam: Several ASTC employees protested the laying off of illegally hired workers

GUWAHATI: According to sources, the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) terminated 771 illegally hired workers from several divisions on May 31.

The 771 ASTC employees were allegedly hired without following proper procedures as per sources. According to an official notice, “Regarding the hiring of contractual employees, it has been claimed that all 2274 employees were hired without following the proper procedure of adhering to the system of reservations or conducting any interviews. The same has to be looked into and verified if true. Show Cause notice was to be given to the former MD of ASTC for disobeying government regulations, and departmental proceedings were to be started against such government.”

On May 31, an argument broke out at the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) office in Guwahati's Paltanbazar neighbourhood after the decision to fire numerous staff was made.

According to reports, a number of the affected workers gathered at the ASTC office in Paltanbazar and questioned the State Transport Employees Union general secretary about their unannounced termination from their positions.

As the irate workers asked that the decision to fire them be promptly overturned, the situation worsened. Meanwhile, Paltan bazar police have arrived at the scene to settle the situation.

In 2022, in a significant anti-corruption drive, the state administration has requested 2,274 Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) personnel who were hired while Sarbananda Sonowal served as the state's Chief Minister to resign within 60 days, as sources claimed. 

The personnel in question were appointed through dubious means to various positions inside the ASTC during the course of the previous two years. Numerous these people, according to claims in the local media, were hired on a contractual basis without a background check or interview.

Notably, they were engaged under the first Sarbananda Sonowal-led BJP administration in Assam, with Chandra Mohan Patowary in charge of the Transport division.

According to another report, the first police officer assigned to the ASTC was Tiwari, an IPS officer from the Assam-Meghalaya 2004 batch. This was purportedly done to stop theft of the ASTC's property (such as tyres, etc.).

According to sources, it has been revealed that 11 of the ASTC's fuel pumps were transferred to private corporations while Tiwari served as the organization's senior executive without even issuing tenders.

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