KOCHI: The state government on Thursday submitted before the Kerala High Court it would bear the liability of pension and arrears of KSRTC employees up to July this year. The amount runs up to around Rs 600 crore, including four months’ pension arrears. The government also submitted it has decided to take steps to clear pension arrears before March 2018.These decisions were taken at a meeting convened by Chief Minster Pinarayi Vijayan recently, informed the government pleader.
The government said, in order to improve the efficiency of the KSRTC management, the government had appointed two chartered accountants and a deputy general manager (finance and administration) on a contract basis.The government had already directed the KSRTC to hand over the charge of executive director (administration) to the new DGM and also to deploy the executive director (administration) to any of the three zones in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode.
The state pointed out that repayment of loans is a major expenditure for the KSRTC. The government is taking initiatives to convert the transport body’s short-term, high-interest loans to long-term, low-interest loans through a consortium of banks headed by SBI.
“KSRTC is expected to be able to pay salary and pension promptly after the completion of the financial restructuring. Discussions regarding financial restructuring are in the final stage,” the state submitted.
Meanwhile, KSRTC chairman and managing director A Hemachandran submitted that it is fully sensitive to the agony and sufferings of the pensioners, most of whom are in a desperate condition requiring immediate help.
In the light of the direction of the High Court, the possibility of earmarking a certain percentage of daily collection for the payment of pension was explored. For this purpose, the highest average daily collection in the current financial year as received in January 2018 is taken into account. According to the KSRTC, even in the month of peak average collection, there is a deficit of `95.6 lakh between daily income and expenditure.
Under these circumstances, any further allocation of money towards pension or any other payment is likely to lead to a situation precipitating the crisis and the public transport system coming to a grinding halt.
KSRTC to monitor restructuring exercise
T’Puram: The KSRTC has started a mechanism to monitor the implementation of the corporation’s restructuring. An executive director will monitor major projects, daily targets and report to chairman and managing director A Hemachandran. He has entrusted the task to former operations head P M Sharaf Muhammed and appointed him as the executive secretary to the CMD. The move comes in the backdrop of the government charting a road map for the KSRTC’s revival. The Pinarayi Vijayan government appointed IIM-C professor Susheel Khanna to restructure the ailing corporation back to a sustainable level. In his Budget speech, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac made it categorically clear that the policy of the LDF government was not to solve the crisis by taking over the pensions and salaries of loss-making PSUs, but to strengthen them by means of comprehensive reforms to generate necessary funds on their own.
Consortium sanctions I1,000 cr
The KSRTC submitted that certain banks in the consortium headed by SBI have already issued sanction orders for `1,000 crore. Other banks are known to be in the final stages of processing the same. This would be completed by the end of February and the state government is standing guarantee for these loans.
Eight-hour shift for employees
The state submitted the working hours of employees changed to 8 hours; as a result, the working hours of ministerial staff was changed from 10 am-5 pm to 9.30 am-5.30 pm. Duty pattern of drivers and conductors are scientifically modified.