VIJAYAWADA: The closure of Kesineni Tours and Travels due to the inability of the management to pay wages for the last year has left many of its employees jobless who are now facing hardships in eking out a livelihood. With no other means to sustain themselves, majority of the drivers from Telangana and Hyderabad are planning to approach TRS leader and Telengana irrigation minister T Harish Rao over the issue.
Around 400 employees in Vijayawada, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore had staged a massive agitation in the city on April 17, demanding their remuneration. Soon after the agitation, MP Kesineni Srinivas alias Nani convened a meeting with the employees. Though he assured them that he would settle the wage arrears within a month, he failed to deliver his promise. The employees filed a petition with Vijayawada labour commissioner but no action was initiated against the travel agency.
“The management has to pay `70,000 as salary arrears pending for a year. On several occasions, I approached the general manager Satish asking for the salary arrears, but my pleas have gone in vain,” said a driver from Hyderabad to TNIE.
“I have taken `50,000 at a higher interest from a private money lender to survive my family. Once again, we will approach MP Kesineni Nani in few days over the issue and will formulate our future course of action,” he added.
Another employee from Kakinada working for the last 15 years rubbished the claims of a vernacular daily which recently published that the travel agency had paid three months advance to employees before winding up their business.
“It’s not true and we need to get ten months’ salary arrears. It’s saddening to see that Nani could not spend few minutes for the employees,” he told.