Thiruvananthapuram: When Onam rounds the corner, KSRTC employees are unlikely to get their salary on time as the government failed to meet the assurance given by the Chief Minister. The pay disbursal for the month of July was disrupted as the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation did not receive the fund of Rs 50 crore from the government yet.
Meanwhile, all the staff unions have warned that if there is a pay crisis in August like the last month, they will resort to protest methods including strikes during Onam times. Sources claimed that the government has to grant Rs 150 crore to KSRTC as the sum of pending dues from previous months and additional fund promised by the CM.
The Government had decided to pay the first installment of the salary by the fifth of the month as the Chief Minister's promise to give full salary by this date. But the first installment – ie, half of the salary – was paid only on the 15th and the second installment was disbursed at the month's end.
Biju Prabhakar, Transport secretary and CMD of the KSRTC protested openly and even made a move to resign from his position as the finance department was not ready to fund the Corporation.
The CMD said that he can’t side with a situation in which the staff are to struggle during the Onam times and clarified that the Corporation is not responsible for the crisis. As Transport Minister Antony Raju also stated that the Finance Department is making the situation difficult, it led to a tiff between the finance and transport departments. Whether it’s a fight between the departments or a drama, the families of more than 24000 staff are left in the lurch.
Last Onam, the government had even taken a stand to issue coupons from the stores to buy groceries, textiles and other things instead of paying the salary. Such directions came up on the day before Onam.
The crisis was such that even the KSRTC - CITU union leadership who trusted the CM’s words could not go out. The Management controlled BMS through other penal measures. INTUC was also disarmed. The opposition from the AITUC, which is with the ruling front, was also ignored. Though the CPI quarrelled sometimes, it was all in vain.
The staff also lost hope in the assurances given by their union leadership. With this, the protests sank into mere demonstrations in which hardly a few joined.
