Kochi/Thiruvananthapuram: The State Government is unlikely to come to the aid of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) with timely loans for salary payment.

The Corporation has been directed to find its own income source for meeting its own expenses. The Government has been providing aid of Rs 50 crore to KSRTC since July 2022.

The latter has informed the High Court that the State Government will stop providing it financial aid to pay the salary of its staff from coming April. The same has been conveyed to KSRTC unions as well.

The Government had conveyed this to top officials of the public transporter while extending financial assistance for salary payment during last Onam. In December too the Chief Secretary and the Finance Secretary had remindd them.

Petition before HC
KSRTC Deputy Law Officer P N Hena has filed an affidavit in this regard on a petition filed by R Baji and other employees seeking a plan for distributing salary. The KSRTC deposed before the court that the petitioners are raising the demand without understanding the facts. The Corporation is trying to increase its daily collection to Rs 8 crore. If this is achieved, the salary can be distributed in the first week of the month itself.

The banks and financial institutions are not providing loans to the KSRTC. The responsibility for finding sources of revenue lies with the Corporation and its employees, the affidavit states.

If the single-duty pattern is implemented, an extra revenue of Rs 20-25 crore can be generated each month. At least six months will be needed to implement the duty pattern across the state. For this, the cooperation of the staff is required. Though the unions agreed before the Government to implement the duty pattern, they challenged the same before the court. The Corporation started implementing the duty pattern after the court did not allow a stay on it.

Though KSRTC has 5421 buses, only 4,400 buses conduct services due to the wrong duty pattern. There are 1,200 unauthorized absentees among its 25,000 employees. There exists a situation where the unions turn their back on several reforms.