Amaravati: Eight months after it was incorporated as a non-profit body, the Andhra Pradesh Corporation for Outsourced Services (APCOS) formally started functioning with Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launching it on Friday.
APCOS is a state-owned placement agency through which manpower will be recruited on an outsourced basis for various government departments and organisations.
It will do away with the existing system of hiring outsourced staff through private agencies.
About 47,392 staff working in various government departments and organisations at the state level and also in the districts have now been brought under the APCOS umbrella.
"All these are existing staff taken earlier on an outsourced basis. Not a single fresh recruitment has been made now," official sources said.
Chief Minister symbolically handed over "appointment letters" to a few outsourced staff in the General
Administration Department, to mark the launch of APCOS.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that corrupt practices that existed in the hiring of outsourced staff would now be eliminated.
Besides, 50 per cent of jobs would be reserved for BCs, SCs, STs, minorities and women.
All recruitments henceforth would be made online while salaries would be credited directly into the staff's bank accounts.
"There will now be a timely and full payment of remuneration to the outsourced staff without any undue cuts (by middlemen) and they will also get EPF and ESI facilities," the chief minister said.
Referring to the previous system, the Chief Minister said in some cases, the contractors inflated the number of (outsourced) employees but actually deployed lesser numbers and pocketed the money.
Besides the commissions, there was no accountability in the deduction of ESI and PF.
He said that in one case, the cleaning and maintenance work of seven temples that could hardly cost Rs 4-7 lakh was entrusted for Rs 32 lakh to a contractor, alleged to be closed to those in power then.
"APCOS would now ensure a corruption-free placement," he added.
(PTI REPORT)
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