THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has accused the LDF Government for not taking any concrete steps to end the crisis in the KSRTC and demanded the government to take immediate steps to address the situation.
Noting that all the unions are on agitation, he said KSRTC would become standstill if Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan did not interfere to solve the crisis. In a letter to the Chief Minister, Chandy asked the government to fulfil the promise the LDF had given in its manifesto that liabilities of KSRTC would be taken over by the government.
He said the salary for November had only been given partially. Moreover, only 25 per cent of the pension has been disbursed in the last two months, he said and added that the government was not in a position to say when the balance would be given. It is now clear that the employees would not be getting Christmas advance this time. Moreover, the Board had also withdrawn the DA to the employees that was given by the previous UDF Government, he said.
Noting that the UDF government had tried to protect KSRTC, Chandy said the UDF had taken up 50 per cent of the pension liability. Moreover, the UDF had taken practical decisions to overcome the crisis in KSRTC. Though the KSRTC had been incurring loss, the UDF Government had not delayed salary. The cumulative loss of KSRTC at that time was Rs 3800 crore and daily loss was calculated at Rs 125 crore. Now the cumulative loss has come down to Rs 3,600 crore and daily loss to Rs 85 crore. Even after this, the salary and pension have been delayed, he said.
TU to donate a new bus to KSRTC
The KSRT Employees Association (CITU) is offering a new bus to Kerala State Road Transport Corporation when the ailing corporation is struggling to efficiently manage its fleet of around 6,000 buses. The month-long initiative called ‘Save KSRTC’ apparently to help the corporation come out of its financial burden has been criticised for its lack of imagination. “What difference is it going to make to KSRTC’s revenue? If the TUs were sincere about helping KSRTC it should have helped in running these buses,” said an employee in Thiruvananthapuram.It is the second such campaign by the union. The first Save KSRTC campaign in 2015 focused on improving the earning of schedules in each depot. In the second campaign the union collected money from employees for buying the bus. “Employees who were concerned about delay in getting salaries were not happy to contribute. Even when salaries and pension were delayed by 20 days the KSRTEA did not protest,” said an employee.
Transport Minister to meet trade union leaders today
T’Puram: Transport Minister AK Saseendran will hold discussions with trade union leaders in KSRTC on Tuesday to explain the delay in disbursement of salary and pension. Trade unions including KSRT Employees Union (AITUC) and Transport Democratic Federation (TDF) have been protesting against the delay.