more-in KOCHI: Over 30,000 members of Kudumbashree appeared for an examination conducted at 100 centres in the district on Sunday to short-list around 700 women to manage Kochi metro stations. District Mission Coordinator of the women’s self-help group Tani Thomas said 39,000 hall tickets were issued, and 80% of applicants had turned up for the test conducted by the Centre for Management Development (CMD). The results are expected to be announced within a few days. Marks will be calculated using the ‘optical-mark reader’ method. Kudumbashree will impart soft skill training to successful candidates, and it will be followed by training in tasks like house-keeping, ticketing, customer relations, and gardening at 24 stations in the Aluva-Pettah corridor. Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) Managing Director Elias George said the successful candidates would be trained by the Thiruvananthapuram-based CMD next week, in anticipation of the commissioning of the Aluva-Palarivattom corridor in April. The metro agency had inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kudumbashree in December on the management and maintenance of metro stations, including parking management and running of canteens. Minister for Local Self-Government K.T. Jaleel had then said that as many as 300 Kudumbashree mission members would be initially inducted into metro station service. They will be assigned jobs in accordance with their respective qualifications. He had emphasised that Kudumbashree would not act as a contractor supplying labour but would be a facilitator. The Kudumbashree mission is also considering taking over the management of more cleaning and parking services in the State for Indian Railways. Its members have already been deployed for managing and collecting parking fee at Ernakulam Junction and Town railway stations. They also manage the AC waiting rooms at the two stations.

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