THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a move that has given some hope to Kerala state road transport corporation (KSRTC) employees, the finance department has agreed to grant Rs 30 crore more to the corporation for paying the salaries of the employees.
This is in addition to the Rs 30 crore that has already been given to the corporation for payment of salaries for April. Transport minister Antony Raju, who met finance minister K N Balagopal on Thursday seeking a solution to the crisis, said that the government is hopeful of disbursing the salaries from Friday. Since the corporation needs Rs 82 crore to pay the salaries, the corporation will mobilise the remaining Rs 22 crore by Friday.
The transport minister also softened his earlier stand and said that it is the need of the government to maintain KSRTC. Earlier, when employees had gone on strike because of the uncertainty and delay in disbursal of salaries by ignoring the minister's assurance, Raju had said that it is not the government's responsibility but KSRTC management's duty to ensure that the KSRTC employees' salaries are paid on time. However, the CPM controlled CITU union had then approached the chief minister and had sought a solution in the matter.
It is learnt that once the finance department releases the additional Rs 30 crore, the corporation would repay the overdraft from the bank and then once again draw an overdraft of Rs 50 crore to find the resources for the payment of salaries.
The corporation needs Rs 165 crore for disbursement of salaries and pensions. While KSRTC's revenue is only Rs 158 crore per month, including from ticket revenue as well as non-ticket means, it has a monthly expenditure of approximately Rs 375 crore, which would mean that the corporation is approximately incurring a loss of Rs 217 crore every month.
