Thiruvananthapuram, December 23 : Kerala finance minister Thomas Isaac has refuted the charge of trade unions that the CPI(M)-led LDF government reneged on the promise to foot the pension payment of KSRTC (kerala state road transport corporation) retirees for two years.
In a facebook post on Saturday, Mr. Isaac said that at his pre-budget meeting with representatives of central trade unions, the trade union leaders touched on the cash crunch gripping the KSRTC and complained that the state government went back on its pledge to provide funds for the payment of pension of the corporation’s 38,000-odd retirees for two years.
Refuting this charge, the finance minister pointed out that the LDF government had already given the KSRTC over Rs. 600 crore in cash to disburse pension.
Mr. Isaac, however, cautioned that the government’s taking over the payment of pension to KSRTC retirees was not the ultimate solution to the financial woes afflicting the transport corporation, adding that things have come to such a pass that the government now had to foot even the salaries of the KSRTC employees.
The state government has provided funds to help out the cash-strapped corporation by standing guarantee for availing loans, the facebook post says.
However, sounding a note of caution, Thomas Isaac warns that the debt-ridden KSRTC cannot survive for long unless it effected changes in its style of functioning.
To this effect, the KSRTC must initiate urgent measures to enhance its productivity, increase the number of buses in its fleet, and restructure its finances, he writes.
Pensioners of the corporation under the banner of KSRTC pensioners’ organisation had staged a series of agitations recently demanding the state government’s intervention to ensure payment of pension arrears of the last five months.
The KSRTC pledged two of its depots as collateral the other day with a cooperative bank to avail of a Rs. 50 crore loan to pay off a month’s pension arrears.
