THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The KSRTC Pensioners Organisation will go on an indefinite hunger strike in front of the Secretariat from May 19 demanding withdrawal of the revival package chalked out by the Corporation to overcome its pension liability.
As part of a deal struck with the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the pension payment to the 37,000 pensioners and those retiring from its 30,000-strong workforce in service before April 1, 2013 will become the insurance company’s responsibility.
However, the pensioners’ organisation has claimed that the package was an attempt by the KSRTC and the State Government to sabotage the statutory pension which is currently in place.
The government will pay Rs 500 crore to the LIC in the first year and Rs 480 crore in the second year as corpus so that the latter can take over the pension liabilities of the Corporation in 10 to 12 years. If one quarter of that amount is paid to the KSRTC, it will help solve all the problems, the leaders of the Pensioners Organisation told reporters at the Press Club here on Thursday. KSRTC is the most socially responsible public sector unit in the state which helps in conserving fuel, checking the bus charges and easing the traffic on the state’s roads. So, the government need not look into the profit and loss statements of the Corporation in order to run it, they said.
They said that they haven’t received pension for the months of April and May and are uncertain whether they are going to receive it in the coming months.
K Muraleedharan MLA will inaugurate the rally of the pensioners near War Memorial at Palayam on May 19 while CITU state secretary Anathalavattom Anandan will address the hunger strike by them in front of the Secretariat on the same day.