Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Transport Minister Antony Raju will hold talks with labour unions of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on timely salary disbursal on Monday.
Employment unions have demandded the State government to ensure that the salaries are paid before the 5th of every month.
Though the unions held tak with KSRTC Managing Director Biju Prabhakar, he insisted that the assurance on the matter will have to come from the Minister. Since the Transport Minister had shown reluctance to commit to the demand earlier, the unions are worried about the outcome of Monday's talks.
The KSRTC employees union had been at loggerheads with the management for weeks over the non-payment of salaries.
To resolve the crisis, Kerala government had recently sanctioned Rs 30 crore to the Corporation. In addition to this amount, the debt-ridden public transporter also resorted to an overdraft of Rs 42 crore from banks and Rs 7 crore from its own funds.
The KSRTC authorities maintained that the salary payment was delayed this time due to bank holidays last week on account of Good Friday and Vishu. This prevented the timely transfer of Rs 30 crore that the government had forwarded, officials said.
Earlier, a few unions had called for strikes citing KSRTC's mismanagement and non-payment of salaries.
