PremiumState-owned Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation announced ‘Diwali gift’ of Rs5000 for its 87,000 employees after getting financial aid from government
To cheer its employees ahead of Diwali, State-owned Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation on Wednesday announced a ₹5,000 Diwali "but" or bonus for them after the government sanctioned ₹45 crore financial aid to the company.
The company announced Diwali “bhet" or bonus for its 87,000 employees, including officers. According to the company's announcement, all the employees of the company will get a Diwali bonus worth ₹5,000. “The state government has given ₹45 crore financial aid," the MSRTC stated in a release.
The release also mentioned the financial crunch faced by the company for the last two years. The company had been struggling to generate revenue and upkeep its expenses due to the fall in passengers because of the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the hardships, the company decided to present a bonus of ₹5,000 to its employees. The company told in the release that the bonus amount will be credited to the bank accounts of employees soon.
It is worth noting that MSRTC is one of the largest state-owned public transport undertakings in the country. The company operates around 16,000 buses across the state. However, the company had to face significant losses after the onset of the COVID pandemic.
Since then the company has been struggling to meet its expenses and maintain a large regime of its employees as well as buses. Before the COVID pandemic, around 65 lakh passengers used to commute daily on MSRTC busses.
Despite all the hardships due to the pandemic, the transport company continued to launch new services and even buses. MSRTC launched an electric bus service on the Pune-Ahmednagar route in May this year. In the coming time, the company may roll out some more electric buses on other routes.
Along with reducing pollution in the environment, these buses also encompassed a lot of modern features including zero noise, GPS devices, panic buttons, CCTV cameras, and other security features. Along with this, these buses are also contributing to providing disable friendly travel to its specially-abled passengers with ramps.
(With inputs from PTI)