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Day-long strike by Kerala road transport corporation staff hits commuters hard
Though a majority of trade unions supported the agitation, the CITU, the trade union wing of the ruling CPI (M) in Kerala, kept away from the strike.
Thiruvananthapuram: The day-long strike called by a section of the employees of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Friday protesting the delay in salary disbursement hit commuters across the state hard.
Stranded passengers and winding queues were visible in many bus stations and Minister for Transport Antony Raju criticised employees for taking commuters for a ride. The Kerala government said it will impose dies-non (no work, no pay) and added direct action taken by the employees will only aggravate the crisis.
Though a majority of trade unions supported the agitation, the CITU, the trade union wing of the ruling CPI (M), kept away from the strike. In the state capital, only 10 schedules (trips) worked in the morning instead of 200 and long-distance travellers were the worst-affected.
Incurring losses for many years now, the Kerala government used to pump in money into the ailing KSRTC for a long time but recently it asked the corporation to find ways to attract revenue and stopped assistance which resulted in a big crisis. For the last few months, employees were getting their salaries in a staggered manner.
“It is a fact KSRTC is in a crisis. And direct action like the day-long strike will aggravate the situation. Employees will have to stand with the management to find a way out,” said the minister. But the Transport Democratic Front, associated with the Congress, said the government had failed to give any assurance on timely disbursement of salary.
The KSRTC said on a monthly basis, it needs ₹82 crore for salary expenses but the revenue after fuel expenses will be around ₹50 crore creating a big gap between revenue and actual expenses. Employees, however, insisted that their salary should be disbursed before the fifth of every month. Among 58 loss-making PSUs in the state KSRTC tops-- in 2021 its accumulated loss was ₹510 crore.
