Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) will resume the distribution of pension soon after the State Government decides on the interest rate for the loans to be advanced to the public transporter. The State Finance and Cooperative departments have to take a call on the interest rate, sources said.
A sum of Rs 68 crore has to be sourced to distribute the pension for August. This even as beneficiaries are yet to get pension for the last two months.
The payment crisis was temporarily resolved after a consortium of cooperative banks, which provide the pension fund, agreed to lend the amount at an interest rate of eight per cent. Usually, the banks provide the fund, and the government would then reimburse them.
The banks earlier used to charge 10 percent interest for such loans. However, the finance department reduced the interest to eight percent. When the banks demanded at least 8.5 percent interest, the department insisted on paying only 7.5 percent.
The High Court had on the other day directed the state to distribute pension before the fifth of every month.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Antony Raju said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan have agreed to hold talks with the employees' unions to resolve various issues boggling the KSRTC.
Earlier, the trade unions had opposed the management's decision to introduce the single-duty system in the Corporation. Though ministers Antony Raju and V Sivankutty held talks with the unions, the same didn’t bear fruits.
