Sinking KSRTC suffers yet another hartal blow

Thiruvananthapuram: The KSRTC,  which is reeling under a whopping debt of Rs 1,350 crore,  suffered yet another blow on Monday with the hartal  making it poorer by Rs 5 crore.

The KSRTC employees, however, reported for duty which means they have to be paid though the buses did not ply except to Sabarimala. The transport  trade unions will stage protests from November 21 at all bus depots across the state pressing various issues.

The KSRTC operated 487 schedules on Monday and the total collection will be known only on Tuesday. According to a senior official, the maximum amount it  can take as loan a year as per the Reserve Bank of Directives is Rs 360 crore which has been surpassed.

“The overall loss it has suffered since 2011 is  Rs 1,350 crore by availing of  loans from Kerala Transport Development Finance Corporation, LIC and HUDCO. Since last month,  we have surpassed the cap of Rs 360 crore and that  is why the KSRTC was unable to pay the pension this month for its employees which comes to Rs 35- Rs 40 lakh,”  said a KSRTC official.

Though the state government had earmarked Rs 132 crore from the Plan fund, Rs 60 crore is still pending which will be given only on project completion. If the government doesn’t pay up the pension and salary of the  employees  this month, it will land in further trouble.

Trade union representatives told Deccan Chronicle that so far neither the corporation nor the government had initiated any talks on dividing the KSRTC into three regional companies as suggested by the State Planning Board in its Perspective Plan 2030. Transport minister Aryadan Mohammed  said that such a proposal was not under consideration.

“It is high time the government took the initiative to sort out the KSRTC’s issues. Only by  discussions with trade union leaders and officials, ideas can be generated to tide over the current crisis,”  said the   KSRTC official.