THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After 60 years of operations that saw several reform measures, KSRTC management found that some of the employees are getting salaries without doing adequate work. In order to improve the efficiency of operation, KSRTC has now decided that salaries of employees will be linked to the number of physical duties. An employee has to do 190 physical duties in a year. It means they have to do a minimum 16 duties in a month (from 26th of previous month to 25th of the current month), to be eligible for salary the next month.
The salary of employees without 16 physical duties as per the criteria, will be processed after the fifth of next month and given as supplementary salary, said an order issued by the chairman and managing director of KSRTC, Biju Prabhakar. The decision came at a time when KSRTC is struggling to pay salaries on time. Even while trade unions were protesting against the delay, the management issued the order saying there was room for improvement in operational efficiency. Jude Joseph, a former vehicle supervisor and a crusader against corruption, hailed the decision.
“KSRTC had to cancel many trips because drivers reported late or shunned duty citing frivolous reasons. If there is a delay in reporting for duty we have to truncate the trip and it will result in revenue loss. When we reported the absence, the management was not keen on acting against erring crew members because of the influence of trade unions,” said Jude. “Instead the blame was always on vehicle supervisors and station masters for service cancellation,” he added.
KSRTC has fewer than 30,000 employees on its rolls and 70 per cent of them are crew. Consumer activist Dijo Kappan said the crew was not always responsible for service cancellations and the rule should not be used to deny the rights of staff. “The management is responsible for service cancellations. Earlier there used to be one spare bus for every 10 buses. KSRTC bought just 100 buses in the past six years. The tenure of superclass buses has been extended for nine years. These buses can result in increased cancellations,” he said.