132 Assam State Transport Corporation employees given golden handshake

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Loss-making ASTC (Assam State Transport Corporation) has started sending its employees under the VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme). As many as 132 permanent employees and officials of ASTC have already gone under the golden handshake.

In February 2022, ASTC issued a notification inviting its permanent employees to apply for VRS. As many as 397 employees who expressed their willingness to join VRS were eligible for the golden handshake. The estimated cost for the VRS project is over Rs 121 crore. However, the government sanctioned Rs 50 crore for the VRS in 2022–23. With the Rs 50 crore, the corporation picked up 160 employees with more than 2.5 years of service left. For the VRS of the remaining 237 employees, ASTC requested that the government provide over Rs 71 crore. ASTC sources said that the corporation has already sent 132 of its permanent employees under VRS.

According to ASTC sources, it has a total of 3,039 employees, including 914 permanent and 2,125 contractual employees. The remaining permanent employees will retire by 2028. If the corporation does not go for fresh recruitment, it will be left with only contractual workers. ASTC has outstanding liabilities of over Rs 185 crore from 2016 to 2022.

Of the 936 ASTC buses, only 616 are on the roads, and 321 are not operational. The corporation also operates 1274 private buses. It spends over Rs 6.48 crore monthly on salaries.

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