Pinarayi to hold discussions today

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan will convene talks on Monday with the leaders of KSRTC unions and management representatives to resolve the salary arrears crisis. Transport minister Antony Raju will also be part of the discussion.
KSRTC employees are protesting against the non-payment of salaries for July and August. The unions have also decided not to accept the coupons issued to the employees for purchasing essential commodities from SupplyCo, Consumerfed and Maveli stores.
Based on the high court directive, the transport department had issued the coupons.
The KSRTC management had sought the government to sanction Rs 130 crore for clearing all salary arrears of employees before the Onam. However, the government has made it clear that it cannot sanction this amount. Based on the court directive, Rs 50 crore was sanctioned by the finance department. However, this amount is insufficient for the payment of salaries.
The unions have decided to register their protest before the chief minister for issuing coupons to them. They have demanded that all the salary arrears should be paid before Onam or else they would go on strike. The unions, including the CITU, INTUC, AITUC and BMS have jointly protested against the delay in paying the arrears and also for issuing coupons to the employees.