Daily News Dose: KSRTC leaves employees in the lurch even during Onam with unpaid salaries | Sept 4, 2022

Hello, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. I'm your host, Susan Joe Philip, and these are the major news stories of the day:

1. We begin with a happy news for all snake boat lovers. The latest edition of the Nehru Trophy boat race in Alappuzha kicked off at 2 pm on Sunday.

2. Moving on, KSRTC leaves employees in the lurch even during Onam with unpaid salaries

3. About Cong polls, Sonia to talk to Gehlot again as Rahul remains reluctant

4. Latin Church pulls up CPM govt for failing to resolve fisherfolk's dilemma, and  

5. Ravindra Jadeja likely to miss T20 World Cup

Let's get into the details

1)The latest edition of the Nehru Trophy boat race in Alappuzha kicked off at 2 pm on Sunday.

77 boats, including 20 snake boats (chundan vallams) are competing for the top slots in nine categories.

The top four teams winnings the heats will compete in the finals.  The Nehru Trophy will be presented to the snake boat that wins the final race, which would be held at 5 pm.

Alappuzha District Collector V R Krishna Teja said the boat race has generated huge interest with spectators buying tickets worth Rs 35 lakh. “Offline tickets worth Rs 25 lakh were sold till Saturday evening, while online ticket sales stood at Rs 10 lakh,” he said.

The race is still going on while recording this podcast. For final results check Onmanorama.com

2) Even as every nook and corner of the State celebrates Onam with feasts, festivities and floral carpets, about a quarter lakh KSRTC employees and their families struggle to meet their day-to-day expenses. Their hopes of getting salary dues of two months at least for Onam also seem to be fading away.

The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has now decided to disburse 33 per cent of the pending dues utilising Rs 50 crore allotted by the Government and Rs 10 crore in hand.

This would come to about 70 per cent of the monthly salary. The pay distribution would begin on Monday.

The Corporation said a coupon worth Rs 5,000 from Civil Supplies Corporation would be given to meet the Onam needs.

However, KSRTC unions, cutting across party affiliations, said they were not ready to accept coupons in place of their pending salary.

They said giving food coupons in lieu of salary is equivalent to insulting the employees.

3)The Congress High Command will decide on the candidate for the party president elections after September 10.

The final decision on this would be taken after Sonia Gandhi, who is undergoing medical treatment in London, returns home.

Sonia may talk to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who was earlier sought to take up the position, yet again.

Gehlot has put forth certain conditions; to allow holding the positions of the Congress president and the Chief Minister at the same time, or to accept the person whom he recommends for the Chief Minister’s position in Rajasthan. However, these terms are not acceptable to the High Command. 

Before we move on, here's a quick reminder to checkout Onmanorama's other podcasts, Wacky News and News Brake. Wacky News is a collection of the weirdest and strangest news from across the globe and News Brake is a clutter-free explainer of the major news story of the week. Both programmes are available on all podcast platforms.

Now, back to Daily News Dose

4) The Latin Church has come down heavily on the CPM government for failing to find a resolution to the many demands put forth by the fisherfolk community fighting for their livelihood.

In a circular to the parishioners, Archbishop of the Latin Archdiocese of Thiruvananthapuram Dr Thomas J Netto alleged that the Kerala High Court gave the order considering only one-half of the argument.

Funds provided by the government for resettlement is insufficient even to meet immediate needs, the archbishop pointed out. "Could one get a house for Rs 5,500?" he asked and urged the fisherfolks to continue the protests until the government fulfilled all their seven demands.

Although many discussions were between the government and the fisherfolk community, neither party was able to make headways in the talks.

The protest committee will organize a fast on Monday and the archbishop is slated to join them.

5)Senior Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is all set to miss the T20 World Cup in Australia as he will undergo a major knee surgery.

It is expected to keep him out of action for an indefinite period. Jadeja, who played the first two games of the ongoing Asia Cup against Pakistan and Hong Kong, gives the team the requisite balance with his all-round abilities and the 33-year-old's absence will be a big blow to Rohit Sharma's side. "Jadeja's right knee injury is pretty serious. He is supposed to undergo a major knee surgery and will be out of action for indefinite period of time. At this point, if one goes by the assessment of the NCA's medical team, one can't put a timeline on his imminent international comeback," a senior BCCI official said on the condition of anonymity.

That brings us to the end of this episode. Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.