Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation has finally cleared the salary dues for April. The delayed salary disbursement that began at the weekend is now almost complete.
Barring high-salaried officer rank employees, all other staff were paid the salary for the month of April on Saturday.
The crisis was temporarily resolved after the finance department transferred Rs 20 crore to KSRTC's account on Saturday.
The KSRTC managed to pay the salary to its staff after a lot of uncertainty and protest by the employees. Now, the management is apprehensive about disbursement of May month's salary. It has sent a letter to the government on Saturday demanding Rs 65 crore.
Where did the money come from
Earlier, the government had sanctioned Rs 30 crores for disbursement of April salary. The money was used to clear the pending overdraft dues. Subsequently, overdraft of Rs 50 crore was taken again. This money was utilised for paying the salaries of drivers and conductors. The management received Rs 20 crore again. In all the government has given Rs 50 crore assistance this month.
With the finance department making it clear that this practice cannot be continued in future, KSRTC management is now faced with the challenge of next month’s salary disbursement.
The existing dues will have to be cleared if more money is to be taken through overdraft.
Meanwhile, the opposition-affiliated trade unions alleged that Rs 20 crore was granted by the government in view of Thrikkakara by-election. They demanded a full-fledged solution for the salary disbursement issue.
