THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Trade unions in KSRTC withdrew the strike scheduled on January 4, following assurance by transport minister AK Saseendran that the concerns including salary and other benefits of the employees will be addressed within two days.
Similar to last month, the State government once again had to turn to the Kerala Transport Development Finance Corporation (KTDFC), a non-banking financial agency, to find money for paying the salary of the employees.
Minister said that Rs 100 crore will be taken from KTDFC. The salary and dearness allowance for December would likely to be distributed in installments. KSRTC needs Rs 58 crore to pay the salary and Rs 61 crore for paying monthly pensions. The 6 per cent DA will incur an additional expenditure of Rs 6.5 crore.
"Banks are reluctant to lend money for KSRTC. We cannot go on taking loans to meet the expenditure of the corporation.The trade unions also know that KSRTC cannot afford a strike," said Saseendran.
Transport Democratic Front (TDF) affiliated to INTUC and Kerala State Transport Employees Union (KSTEU) affiliated to AITUC had given a notice for the strike on January 4 in protest against the decision to freeze the dearness allowance.