KSRTC yet to disburse April salary for staff

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Salary disbursement in the Kerala state road transport corporation (KSRTC) is likely to get delayed yet again this month, though it was assured that salaries would be disbursed on May 10.
Though the government has sanctioned Rs 30 crore for payment of salaries to employees for April, the corporation would need Rs 50 crore more to disburse salaries. The corporation is trying to raise funds from the Kerala transport development finance corporation (KTDFC) or SBI, it is learnt. The corporation needs Rs 165 crore for the disbursement of salaries and pensions. While the revenue of KSRTC is only Rs 158 crore per month, including from ticket revenue as well as nonticket means, it has a monthly expenditure of approximately Rs 375 crore, which would mean that the corporation is approximately incurring a loss of Rs 217 crore every month.
Employees of trade unions affiliated with the opposition partiesthe proUDF Transport Democratic Federation (TDF) and the pro-BJP Kerala Transport Employees Sangh (KTES) had gone on a 24-hour strike last Friday against the delay in the disbursal of salaries, while CITU-affiliated Kerala State Road Transport Employees’ Association, which had taken a stand that the strike was politically motivated as the government had assured that salaries would be paid on May 10, has now come up with a statement demanding that the government should meet its promise that salaries will be disbursed on the promised date.
Criticising the KSRTC management, it said that the management is coming up with new orders, including refusing permission for the strike, to cover up its own lapses. The CITU union also has come up against the management as it has become clear that salaries are unlikely to be disbursed fully on May 10.
While signing the revised salary package that was recently implemented for KSRTC employees, employees had demanded that the salaries should be disbursed by the fifth of every month.