THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the third video of his five-part series, KSRTC CMD Biju Prabhakar continued his criticism of trade unions, warning employees of potential termination for bunking duties. He highlighted that 1243 employees have been neglecting their regular duties and refusing to respond to the show cause notices issued to them.
“Some employees are continuing in this organisation with the intention of getting a pension. We cannot afford to keep such people in the organisation. They should either take voluntary retirement or face termination,” he said.
Prabhakar further announced his intention to publicly disclose the names of the erring employees through advertisements in the media, emphasizing that they would be terminated in accordance with the rules. As per the existing agreement, employees must complete a minimum of 16 duties per month to be eligible for full salary.
The KSRTC CMD also criticised certain employees and trade unions for adopting double standards regarding duty reforms.
“By reducing the expenditure and improving productivity we could generate additional revenue of Rs 30 crore. It would have helped KSRTC to attain self-sufficiency. But the unions spread rumours that it would result in overworking. But the same people have no problem in taking 18-hour duty to Bengaluru,” said Prabhakar.
Prabhakar introduced the single-duty system in KSRTC to enhance productivity by maximizing the utilization of employees to operate a greater number of buses. Despite the success of this system during a pilot implementation in the Parassala unit, employees have largely disregarded the reforms.
The CMD attributed the poor fleet utilization to the attitude of some employees. In the meantime, trade unions have begun expressing their dissatisfaction with the CMD’s public criticism.