Kerala transport corporation employees go on strike demanding timely payment of salaries, pending DA; LDF union, BMS abstain

The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) invoked dies non, a day on which no legal business can be done, for employees on Monday after beginning a 24-hour strike at midnight, The Hindu reported. [caption id=“attachment_7596701” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational iamge. News18[/caption] The stir was called to protest the non-fulfilment of various demands, including timely payment of salaries, pay revision and disbursement of pending instalments of dearness allowance. INTUC-affiliated Transport Democratic Federation (TDF), among the two trade unions approved by the KSRTC, called for the protest after talks between its president Thampanoor Ravi and the KSRTC officials on Friday bore no result. “The finance minister, who had announced the formation of a bank consortium that would help pay salaries and pension on time and make KSRTC a profitable organisation within two years, has reduced the fund of Rs 20 crore provided by the government to KSRTC. This move has delayed the distribution of salaries and pension. The amount deducted from the government share towards the payment of salaries of KSRTC employees in September was provided only on 11 October. And the salaries were disbursed in two instalments. The government had announced that 3,000 buses will be introduced in the fleet in three years. However, only 101 buses have been manufactured so far,” Ravi told The Times of India. Ravi also claimed that it was the first time this year that no new buses were introduced during the Sabarimala season, blaming the LDF government for destroying the corporation that was functioning smoothly during the UDF government’s tenure. “It is ironic to say that there is no sufficient number of staff to operate buses after the sacking of 9,500 employees by ‘fixing the case at court’,” alleged Ravi. Meanwhile, a senior KSRTC official told Deccan Chronicle that all dues will be settled in November. “Such strikes will only hamper revival measures being adopted and cut down revenue collection,” the official said. The LDF union and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh have decided to not to participate in the strike.