THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Irked by the delay in salary disbursement, the KSRTC employees staged protests at various depots on Thursday. Interestingly, the protests this time are led by trade unions affiliated to the leading parties of the ruling front — the Kerala State Road Transport Employees’ Association, under the CPM-affiliated CITU, and the Kerala State Road Transport Employees’ Union, under the CPI-affiliated AITUC.
While the Employees’ Union observed a black day and warned of a duty boycott from April 16, the Employees’ Association staged a huge protest in front of the KSRTC headquarters and announced further agitation from April 19.
The latter has also decided to stage a token strike on April 28 protesting the management’s failure to keep its promise to disburse salary on the fifth of every month. The protests have the support of the Congress-affiliated INTUC’s Transport Democratic Federation (TDF) and the BJP-affiliated BMS’ Kerala State Transport Employees Sangh.
The trade unions hardened their stand after the management failed to disburse salary though the finance department had approved Rs 30 crore for the purpose on Wednesday. The money could not be transferred to the KSRTC’s account due to the bank holiday, thereby dashing the hopes of at least a part payment before Vishu.
The KSRTC, which requires Rs 87 crore to pay salaries every month, had demanded Rs 75 crore from the finance department but received approval for only Rs 30 crore. This month, the government has already given Rs 202 crore towards pension (Rs 142 crore) and servicing loans (Rs 60 crore). The finance department has asked the KSRTC to find the deficit money from the revenue generated. The transport corporation will have to wait for the banks to function after holidays to use the overdraft option to find money. It had used the provision last month, too, to take Rs 50 crore.
C K Harikrishnan, the general secretary of the Employees’ Association, accused the management of inefficiency and diversion of last month’s revenue (Rs 165 crore), which he claimed has led to the crisis. The KSRTC spends around 75% of the revenue for fuel and loan servicing.
“The government should consider disbanding the management if they are unable to run KSRTC efficiently. We cannot accept the argument that revenue will be reduced due to the strike, and we shall raise our voice till we ensure the payment of salary on time,” Harikrishnan said. Transport Minister Antony Raju who criticised the strike on Wednesday, chose not to respond to Thursday’s protests.