THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: To pacify protesting employees, KSRTC has decided to start distributing salaries to its staff from Monday. The move comes after various trade unions threatened to strengthen protests across the state from Monday against the corporation's failure to disburse salaries on time. It is estimated that KSRTC suffered a loss of Rs 3.5 crore over the weekend due to the stir.
KSRTC CMD Biju Prabhakar said the corporation suffered a huge setback ever since the employees began boycotting work from Friday. "KSRTC receives maximum collection on Mondays and Fridays. Though we received a record revenue of Rs 5.79 crore last Monday, it dropped to Rs 4.83 crore on Friday. If employees continue boycotting the services, KSRTC will suffer more loss," he said, adding KSRTC expects to receive high patronage in the coming days owing to Christmas.
"Many passengers depend on our services to spend time with their loved ones during Christmas holidays. People will opt for other options if our buses don’t operate on schedule," he said, urging trade unions to revoke the boycott.
The INTUC-affiliated Transport Democratic Federation had announced a mass leave on Monday while the Kerala State Transport Employees Sangh (BMS) had decided to stage protests in front of the headquarters from Monday if the management failed to meet their demands.
Salary distribution became a challenge for KSRTC after a bank consortium deducted Rs 30 crore as interest for the loan taken from the account, leaving KSRTC with just Rs 1 crore. Though the Kerala government allocated Rs 37 crore to the KSRTC, it used the money to pay the salaries of employees on Sabarimala duty. At present, it requires Rs 84 crore to disburse the monthly salary.
The fresh challenge comes at a time when the government has approved a salary revision in KSRTC after 10 years. As per the agreement, Rs 23,000 will be the basic pay. The revised salary will be distributed from January. With the new salary structure in force, KSRTC will require more than Rs 100 crore to pay salaries alone.