DMRC hikes pay of Chennai Metro Phase II contract supervisors to Rs 30,000

CHENNAI: Initially fixed at Rs 26,660, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has increased the monthly salary of supervisors employed on contract to Rs 30,000 for phase 2 of Chennai Metro Rail Operations and Maintenance (O&M). However, it is notable that CMRL pays Rs 33,000 per month as basic pay for its permanent staff in the same role. With other benefits, permanent staff get Rs 65,000 per month approximately.

In its edition dated July 29, DT Next had published 'Hiring for phase 2 Metro line starts, paltry pay draws flak' and 'How disparity in pay exploits youth’s future'. Subsequently, in its September 1 edition, DT NEXT had also reported 'DMRC to hire technicians from government ITIs for phase II' for a monthly pay of Rs 26,330.

Following these reports, the DMRC, for the current set of hiring to be held in November, has hiked the monthly pay of supervisors to Rs 30,000 sans the Dearness Allowance (DA).

The DMRC issued a notification on Tuesday announcing the hiring of a second set of supervisors (on contract) for O&M, for three years on fixed-term employment. But the revised salary in the DMRC announcement has made candidates consider applying for the job.

For the supervisor role in O&M, candidates between 18 and 33 years who have a three-year diploma in any field of engineering from a government or aided polytechnic college in Tamil Nadu can apply. Women candidates can avail of the 30 per cent horizontal reservation.

Further, the selection of candidates will be based on merit-cum-reservation, including Tamil language reading, writing and speaking proficiency being checked.

The interview will be conducted at the government industrial training institute, Guindy, on November 4 and 5. The interviews in Coimbatore and Madurai will be conducted on November 10 and 13, respectively.

The CMRL had outsourced O&M to the DMRC in April for 12 years, and it can be extended for three years if the performance is satisfactory.

As far as O&M (the labour behind keeping Metro Rail operational) is concerned, the CMRL will not hire any permanent staff for phase 2. In fact, the DMRC will take over and hire contract staff from across the country.