The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Saturday began the process of disbursing pending salary of employees. The salaries would be credited to their accounts within two days as per the High Court order, said Transport Minister Antony Raju in Kozhikode.
One-third of the pending salary for the months of July and August would be credited, while employees would be provided vouchers/coupons equivalent to the value of two-thirds of their salary and festival allowances due.
The State government has sanctioned ₹50 crore to the KSRTC for disbursing the one-third salary of over 26,000 employees, for which the corporation requires a total of ₹164 crore. Those who have not opted for the vouchers/coupons with a validity of six months, which could be redeemed at government-owned outlets such as Hantex and Consumerfed for buying provisions/clothes and so on, would be entitled to treat the two-thirds portion of their salary as arrears of unpaid salary.
Meanwhile, employees owing allegiance to various trade unions made it clear that they would not accept the vouchers or coupons. However, the Transport Minister stressed that no employee would be forced to accept the coupons.
A meeting with employees’ unions would be chaired by the Minister on Monday to resolve the pending issues in the KSRTC, including the implementation of single-duty system and salary disputes.
